


Classmates

by BuruRaven



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime), 同級生 - 中村明日美子 | Doukyuusei - Nakamura Asumiko & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, But Know That I Prefer Viktor 100 Times Over, But not quite, Celestino Is Their Teacher Too But He’s Kinda Boring, Christophe Is Their Pervert Teacher, Crossover, Dubious Consent, Except They Aren’t Skaters And Everyone Is About The Same Age, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I’m Using Victor Instead Of Viktor Because The Wiki Says So, M/M, More Like Doukyuusei Universe Without Doukyuusei Characters, Or A Doukyuusei Retelling Where Everything Is Yuri!!! On Ice??? Dunno, Slow Build, So Are A Few Other Skaters, The Triplets Are Older As Well, Victor and Yuuri are classmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-18 14:49:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11292906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuruRaven/pseuds/BuruRaven
Summary: ♫ Sento una voce che piange lontanoAnche tu, sei stato forse abbandonato? ♫That was when Victor noticed it. Although the boy standing to his right was moving his mouth accordingly, he wasn’t singing.This is my first attempt at writing both Alternate Universe and Crossover (well, it’s kind of a crossover, but not quite… more like Doukyuusei retelling with Yuri!!! On Ice’s characters, really). If you haven’t watched or read Doukyuusei, I strongly advise you to do so.But you don’t need to be familiar with Doukyuusei’s story in order to read and understand this fic, it might even be more exciting if you aren’t.You can also find this fic on my tumblr,here.





	1. [Prologue]

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Yuri!!! on Ice or Doukyuusei. Yuri!!! on Ice and Doukyuusei are the property of MAPPA and Avex Pictures and Nakamura Asumiko and A-1 Pictures, respectively, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this, nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.

The school day was coming to an end. The soft Summer breeze whispered gently through the open windows of the music room, bringing with it the soft distant singing of cicadas. Victor Nikiforov was the perfect image of elegant relaxation, head propped up lazily by his left hand, elbow on the desk. Warm sunlight created golden reflexes on shiny grey hair, dancing ever so slightly to the gentle afternoon draft. Light dove through those half-lidded blue eyes like it would a melting ice sculpture.

Complaints and expressions of confusion quietly travelled between the desks in the form of moderately deep voices. Or maybe not so quietly.

“A choir festival at an all boys' high school? That's stupid. An Italian opera? Even stupider.”, Yuri Plisetsky complained.

Victor’s eyes languidly slid sideways to look up at the fan on the wall just as it turned right, depriving him of its fresher gust. It was hot today. Hot days like this always made him feel tired. With a sigh, the beautiful boy repositioned his head to gaze out the window.

“No, see... There's boys' and girls' parts. Tenor and soprano.”, Emil Nekola supplied hopefully.

The cooling exhale of the fan returned to Victor’s right side.

“I want to practice with girls!”, exclaimed Minami Kenjirou excitedly.

“You better forget about that. It's not going to happen.”, Yuri declared with a sort of bored finality that left no space for hope.

“Everyone, quiet.”, said the claret suit-clad teacher from his place by the blackboard while sticking the last big music sheet to the board with magnets, “Think about poor me, who has to get your boyish voices in shape, will you.”

“Giaco-sen, what are you suddenly all excited for...?”, Georgi Popovich inquired from the back in a playful teasing tone.

“I'll have you singing good enough to make me come, just watch.”, Giacometti-sensei replied with an overly-dramatic tone, one bent wrist elegantly touching his forehead.

Yuri made silent gaging gestures.

“Make Giaco-sen come? Gross...", Leo de la Iglesia said, sounding appalled.

“Well then, let's give it a whirl.”, the teacher proceeded, unaffected, relocating to the piano with a couple of elegant tall strides, “Stand up.”

There was a displeased little huff from Yuri’s general direction but the sound of chairs scratching the wooden floor promptly filled the room and was soon replaced by the sound of the rhythmic hitting of the piano strings.

“For now, try to go along with me. Let me hear those voices.”

The young teacher, Christophe Giacometti, sang a few lines of the song for demonstration. The students then tried to repeat them on their own with just the piano.

 

_♫_ _Sento una voce che piange lontano_

_Anche tu, sei stato forse abbandonato?_ _♫_

 

That was when Victor noticed it. Although the boy standing to his right was moving his mouth accordingly, he wasn’t singing.

Katsuki Yuuri. Straight black hair, big kind brown eyes adorned with blue-rimmed glasses. Yuuri. Sounded a bit like the name of his childhood friend and bandmate, Yuri Plisetsky.

Katsuki Yuuri. The name of a winner. In their year, he was famous for his brilliance. He had gotten perfect scores in every subject on his high school entrance exam. Curious that he ended up attending at this school, which was not particularly known for the academic brilliance of its students…

 _Maybe he can’t sing…? Maybe he thinks he’s too good to sing some stupid song…?_ , Victor wondered, intrigued.

Eyes slid minutely to the left and a light blush suddenly painted Yuuri’s cheeks, but he went back to staring straight ahead, as if he had just decided to soldier through his playback singer impression.

 _He is kinda cute._ , Victor thought, and looked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this was tiny, but it’s just to spike your curiosity. I’ll post a much, much longer chapter tomorrow and try to make daily updates afterwards. Writing this fic was such an awesome experience. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.


	2. [Summer]

“Judging from that look, I'm guessing I forgot some promise I made.”, Victor chuckled.

Yuri tsked.

“Idiot. Jam session, remember? We’ll have the box today at around 6 o’clock. Otabek will be there for the tuning.”, Yuri informed, sounding bored, even though Victor knew he was nearly ecstatic that Otabek was going to make it to the jam session after all. The blonde boy was leaning on the locker next to Victor’s, staring at the other students like their mere presence there was personally offending him. Victor hadn’t seen him this cheerful in weeks.

“Oh? How’s his snare? Did he mend it?”, Victor asked enthusiastically.

“He fixed it with tape.”, Yuri dully supplied, impassive to Victor’s cheerful reaction.

“What?? No way!!”

“He did.”, Yuri replied, monotone. Then, like it pained him to no end to ask, “Want a lift?”

 _Definitely ecstatic_.

“Ye-…”, Victor froze momentarily, staring at the inside of his open locker, trying to remember where…, “Oops, I forgot something in the classroom. It’s fine, you go ahead, I’ll just walk there.”

“Okay.”, Yuri shrugged, immediately turning his back on Victor and walking towards the exit and his badass black motorcycle, “’Later.”

“Bye!”, Victor happily replied.

He turned on his heels and, in a rapid pace, half-walked, half-ran in the direction of the classroom they’d left a few minutes ago.

“Bento box, bento box…”, he sing-songed under his breath as he went up the stairs in the contrary direction of the few slower students still leaving the school for the day. He enthusiastically greeted a boy that called his name in passing.

 _Do I even know that guy? Must be a fan_., he decided.

“Bento box, bento box… There'll be some scary mould in there tomorrow if I don't get it…”

As he came close to the classroom, Victor noticed that the door was open and consequently slowed his pace down to a regular walk. A soft sound echoed gently in the deserted corridor. Victor slowed his pace down further. Someone was singing. Someone was practicing the song for the choir festival on his own. The notes were all out of place, but the voice singing them was undoubtedly beautiful. It reached Victor’s ears like a caress, it pulled on his chest like the praise of a mother. It belonged to Katsuki Yuuri.

For a few seconds, Victor just stood there, frozen still by the doorway, simply gazing at the other boy in awe. Yuuri had his back partially to the door while sitting atop his desk, feet propped up on his chair, holding the music score in front of him with his right hand, left arm pulled back slightly, hand on the desk for support. It was a curiously endearing way of sitting, though visibly spontaneous and unintentional. The orange afternoon light coming in from the open windows illuminated his profile, gracing his beautiful features with a kind of golden shimmer that should belong only to mythical beings. The gentle draft lightly caressed the soft dark locks on his head, moving a few stray ones in a way that was almost mesmerizing.

After a couple stammering verses, Yuuri stopped singing altogether.

“Huh?”, he muttered, staring at the music score with perplexity.

Victor decided to make himself known by pushing at the sliding door. Yuuri jumped at the sound, turning to Victor with huge frightened doe eyes. The surprised boy immediately attempted to get himself together and greet Victor.

“V-”, he met Victor’s eyes, blushed and looked away awkwardly, “Nikiforov.”

No -kun? Also, did he just almost call Victor by his first name? Suddenly, his last name felt like a tall dark wall keeping Katsuki Yuuri away from him. Victor almost felt disappointed that the other boy had corrected himself. What the hell was happening?

There was a small pause, during which one of Victor’s bag handles decided to fall off his shoulder.

“Indeed.”, Victor replied with a small kind smile, “I forgot something!”, he cheerfully declared while walking towards his own desk to retrieve his bento box. Yuuri adjusted his glasses and seemed to be concentrating on the music score in front of him once again.

_Practicing on his own, huh? So… he didn’t think he was too good to sing some stupid song after all… and he does have a beautiful singing voice… Then, why…_

“Katsuki.”

The other boy jumped in place again and blushed, harder this time.

 _He is cute_., Victor decided.

“The pause at the beginning is different from how you’re singing it”, he explained, demonstrating the difference by singing the verses the right way.

Yuuri tried to reproduce his demonstration, but again failed to deliver the right pause.

“Here, let me show you.”, Victor said, coming closer and pointing the difference he meant in the music score Yuuri was holding. The other boy seemed to freeze in place, huge doe eyes looking up at Victor as if he couldn’t believe what was happening. But he still managed to sing the verses correctly.

“Excellent!”, Victor praised. Yuuri blushed again. Victor then proceeded to sing the rest of the song. The other boy opened his mouth minutely, then closed it and smiled.

“What?”, Victor asked with a little smile of his own, head elegantly tilted to one side, confused by the other boy’s reaction.

“We didn't do that part in class yet.”, he explained, smile still in place. He sounded almost… proud?

“Yes, but, by looking at the score…”

“Of course.”, Yuuri agreed in a kind tone of voice and again adjusted his glasses.

“I’m… in a band.”, Victor unhelpfully supplied, feeling that something was being left unsaid.

“Yes, I know.” Another little smile. A pause. “Thank you for helping me.” He dropped that last sentence politely, as if he was ending the conversation, bowing minutely and moving to put away the score. For some reason, Victor didn’t want him to leave.

“I thought you weren't into it.”

Yuuri went still, now standing up by his desk, puzzlement clear on his expressive face.

“Huh?”

Now that Victor had captured Yuuri’s attention once again, he leant back on the edge of his own desk, mostly supporting his weight with his arms.

“Rather than not into it, I hypothesised that maybe you thought that singing was stupid. Since you weren’t singing in class.”

Yuuri blushed intensely, mouth opening and closing a few times before any word could come out.

 _So cute_.

He then started to stammer an answer to Victor’s assertion, while awkwardly attempting to put the music sheet inside his bag.

“I… I couldn’t read... the score… the music room… from the blackboard… the… the music score… because my glasses… er…”

The sheet slid from his hand and onto the floor, interrupting his disconnected flow of words.

Victor couldn’t stop himself, he had to laugh. Just a bit. Katsuki Yuuri was too cute. And… was pouting now. Oops.

Victor struggled to put a serious expression back on his face.

“Why didn't you ask Giaco-sen to move you to the front row?”

Yuuri seemed conflicted. He looked at Victor’s desk and away, then graciously bent down to catch the fallen paper sheet, stood up and once again attempted to stash it in his bag.

“Ah, no. No need to trouble sensei with something like this.”

Victor’s eyes went wide with realization. _I see... Is that why he's studying in secret? For that guy’s sake?_

Yuuri wouldn’t meet his eyes again, seemingly giving all his focus to the complex task of putting his things inside his bag and closing it. He put his bag strap on his shoulder.

“Well, thank you again. See you tomorrow.”, Yuuri said with a kind smile, allowing their eyes to meet for a portion of a second before blushing slightly again. Then, he turned and started walking towards the door.

Victor couldn’t let him go. Not like this.

“Let me…”, he began. Yuuri stopped and turned his head to look at him expectantly.

“Let me be your coach!”, Victor declared enthusiastically, raising to his feet and throwing his hands out around himself with a confident smile, “I’ll be your music coach and help you practice until de choir festival!!”, he announced as if it was already decided.

Yuuri stared at him with beautiful huge warm brown eyes as if he couldn’t believe his own ears.

* * *

 

Victor couldn’t focus during the whole jam session. Despite Yuri’s occasional murderous glares in his direction, the fact that he was distracted didn’t relevantly affect his performance in the band. He thought he dropped a few nice solos in the guitar. JJ even patted his shoulder at the end, praising his second voice vocals. But Yuri, despite all his heartless punk act, could always see right through him. And truth be told, Victor’s head was never actually in the studio that night. It was back at school, in that classroom, with Katsuki Yuuri.

After the initial and rather prolonged shock, Yuuri’s disbelief face had changed momentarily into one of genuine happiness, eyes big and shiny searching hopefully into his. He had blushed deliciously, looked down at his own shoes and murmured quietly…

“… Sure.”

 _Sure_. Never had that word sounded as sweet to Victor’s ears. He still couldn’t believe Yuuri had agreed to it so promptly, neither could he understand his own reasons to suggest such a thing in the first place. Just what was happening here?

All Victor knew was that they would start their singing practice the next day after school. And that… that just felt right. 

* * *

 

The distant sounds of students busy in their sports groups and other extracurricular school activities reached Victor’s ears along with the gentle afternoon draft. Sitting on the stone stairs, under the shade of the trees, Katsuki Yuuri fumbled nervously with the music sheet. Apparently, the reason why Yuuri couldn’t read the score had little to do with the inadequate optical power of his glasses and more with the fact that he had a hard time reading the notes.

“This is a ‘do’, right?”, Yuuri asked, pointing at a note in the score, “Do, Si, La, Sol, Fa…”

“Are you going to count your way through all the notes?”, Victor asked, amused, “You’re awesome.”

Yuuri went beet red, looking deeply embarrassed and burying his face in the sheet, like it had suddenly become the most fascinating thing in the world.

 _Interesting_.

In his head, Victor wondered how Yuuri would react if he were to lean into his personal space now, sensually raise his chin with an elegantly stretched finger… _Katsuki, tell me everything about you. Why are you attending this school? Is there someone that you like?_ , he would ask, then, slowly, he would slide a caressing hand down Yuuri’s arm… _Before we start practicing, let’s build some trust in our relationship_ …, he would whisper seductively and...

 _Wait, what?_ What was he thinking about just now?? Victor vigorously shook his head, desperately trying to bring himself back to reality.

After a little pause during which the gorgeous grey-haired boy tried to ground himself to Earth, he put down the soda he was drinking and scooted just a little closer to Yuuri so that he could read the music sheet.

“Well then. Want to leave the score aside? You’ve proven to me yesterday that you learn well by imitation. So, just sing after me.”

* * *

 

The next day, Giacometti-sensei informed the class that, for the second movement of the song, they would be splitting into sopranos and tenors.

“Nikiforov, you're a tenor, aren't you?”, Yuuri timidly asked.

It was lunchbreak. They were sitting side by side on top of the stairs that lead to the rooftop.

The previous day, Victor had arrived late to the band rehearsal and, today, he had ditched Yuri right after lunch so that he could come practice with Yuuri. Saying that the short blonde boy was becoming suspicious was a huge understatement.

“Yeah, but I get the soprano too. Since this part is in harmony, it's easier for us if we practice together singing different voices.”

“Oh. I see.”, Yuuri replied with a soft smile. It looked like he was… proud of Victor... somehow?

 _Interesting_.

“So, you knew I was in a band?”, Victor asked lightly, testing the waters.

“Yes.”, Yuuri replied noncommittally, fixing his eyes on the score as if to avoid eye contact with Victor.

“Yuri as well?”

Yuuri nodded, still not looking at Victor.

“That’s great! We should have lunch together someday, the three of us!”

Yuuri nodded again, soft little smile directed at the sheet. Yes. That would be nice.

“So, this part here…”, Yuuri began, pointing at the score. 

* * *

 

“Victor, you’re late.”, declared Yuri in an acrid tone without even looking up, as soon as Victor opened the studio door.

Otabek and JJ simultaneously turned their heads towards the door, while Yuri, seemingly completely uninterested in his surroundings, kept tuning his bass guitar strings.

“Uh? Still in your uniform? By the way, you owe us a Big Mac each!”, JJ exclaimed cheerfully.

“I want ramen.”, Otabek informed seriously, playing a short ominous beat in his drums.

Victor should perhaps rethink that lunch idea.

* * *

 

The following couple weeks went much like this, with Victor and Yuuri practicing on every free time they had together and with Victor arriving late to band rehearsals every day. 

* * *

 

 _♫ …_ _Partiamo insieme_

 _Ora sono pronto._ _♫_

 

Christophe Giacometti stopped moving, both hands held over his head, conductor’s baton secure in his left wrist, long-lashed eyes closed and an expression of bliss on his round glistening flushed face.

“Wow. You guys.”, he breathed, opening his big shiny green eyes to hazily look at the audience of in-unison shivering students. “You guys really can do it if you try! I totally came, just now.”

“The hell, man. Don't. Just don’t.”, Yuri almost growled.

“Easy-peasy!”

“We were born to make history!”

Victor looked to his right for Yuuri. He was just standing there, looking straight ahead at Giacometti-sensei, a somewhat… worried expression on his face. He looked pale.

“Honestly.”, said Giacometti-sensei, while wiping at the sweat on his forehead with his left arm, completely ignoring Yuri’s pungent reproach, “I thought you guys would crash and burn. But you made it! And in time, as well!”

“Giaco-sen, you're too harsh.”

“Yeah, we worked hard on this!”, Kenjirou exclaimed from the left.

“Yeah, man.”

Victor’s eyes travelled from Giacometti-sensei to Yuuri and back. Another wave of realization hit him right in the chest, so hard he almost felt sick. _No_.

“Okay, so you guys better try your best at the festival.”, Giacometti-sensei declared merrily, “I'll be sure to bring a box of tissues and a change of underwear.”

“Ew…”, multiple boys echoed, appalled.

“Giaco-sen, no.”, Georgi drawled in mock-reprimand.

“I don't want to see Giaco-sen come again…”, whispered a traumatized-looking Leo to Victor’s far right.

“Okay! Let's go one last time, for real now.”, said Giacometti-sensei, easily raising his voice above the commotion and getting himself into position in front of his students.

* * *

 

They stayed at school after class to practice. It was the last time they were doing this.

 

 _♫_ _… e i battiti del cuore_

_si fondono tra loro_

_Partiamo insieme_ _♫_

 

“Perfect!”, Victor praised with finality when Yuuri finished singing.

Yuuri blushed and smiled.

For a few moments, neither of them spoke, both looking at the orange horizon and the iridescent setting sun. The warm light bathed their bodies in multiple shades of yellow and orange before the star was hidden behind the mountains and the sky went dark.

It was late. Good thing the band didn’t have rehearsal that night.

“Nikiforov, I… I want to thank you for all your help.”, Yuuri suddenly announced.

“Oh, don’t worry about it!”, Victor cheerfully exclaimed with a big smile, “You can pay the coaching fee after you achieve success! I’ll bill you later.”

“Hehehe, right.”, Yuuri nervously agreed, apparently unsure if Victor was being serious or not, “But, what I meant was that I wanted to… to treat you as thanks for you putting up with me for these last weeks. How… how does katsudon sound?”

“Delicious! I love katsudon.”, was Victor immediate enthusiastic response.

“Really?”, Yuuri sounded ecstatic, “Me too, it’s my favourite!”

As it turns out, the Katsukis owned an inn near the beach which was just about a forty minutes’ walk from the school.

“Our rooms are on the last floor. We also have an onsen in the back.”, Yuuri proudly informed when they arrived in front of the establishment.

“Woah, sounds amazing!”, Victor exclaimed, delighted. Then, his big open smile dropped and he froze, staring at the beautifully notched entrance arch. _Yu-topia Katsuki_.

“Oh. I know this place, I’ve been here before…”, Victor said slowly.

“Yes.”, Yuuri neutrally agreed, stopping too, halfway to the door, looking suddenly unsure.

Victor excitedly walked up to Yuuri, grabbing at his shoulders, which resulted in immediate tensing from the other boy.

“This is where the Grand Prix performed live for the first time… for money~!”

“Yes.”, Yuuri confirmed, suddenly looking aghast.

Victor released him as if he’d been burned. He’d clearly done something wrong.

“Katsuki! What’s with that face?”, Victor got a bit closer, but avoided touching the other boy.

He talked in a soft voice, almost whispering, “Your parents were the first people to ever pay us for our job, this was such an important step for us!”, he used the index finger of his right hand to raise Yuuri’s face, gently coaxing the other boy to look up at him.

As soon as their eyes met, Victor smiled a huge, sincere smile, young smooth skin crinkling pleasantly at the corner of his eyes. Yuuri retributed the smile in kind.

“Yuuuuuri!!!”, the door opened with a violent bang, causing the boys to jump a few steps away from each other. In front of them stood three identical girls, perhaps a couple years younger than Victor. He thought they looked a little familiar.

“Axel, Lutz, Loop…!”, Yuuri rasped in greeting, then cleared his throat, “Was dinner okay?”

“Yes. But forget about dinner.”, Loop began excitedly, while the other two twins looked at Victor and froze, “Your mother just told us that you’ve been having singing lessons from…”, Lutz pulled at her sister’s hand, making Loop turn and look at Victor too, “… Vic…tor… Niki…forov.”

“Oh. Y-”, Yuuri began, but was interrupted by a wave of teenage girl screaming and arm wiggling. 

* * *

 

“Vkusno!”, was Victor’s immediate reaction to his first bite of Katsuki Hiroko’s katsudon, “Delicious! Too good for words! Is this what God eats?”, Victor muttered eagerly between bites.

Hiroko giggled cutely. Yuuri looked equal parts happy and relieved. The twins each had an autograph in front of them on the table and looked absolutely delighted by Victor’s presence. They’d been Grand Prix fans for years, going to virtually all the band’s performances, but the attractive guitarist and second voice, Victor Nikiforov, was their utmost favourite band member.

“So, Nikiforov-kun, how did Yuuri do? Is his singing good enough for the choir festival tomorrow?”, Hiroko politely asked when Victor was finished with his bowl.

“He did very well. I’m sure that he’ll… that we’ll do great tomorrow. Will you be attending?”

“Unfortunately, no. It’ll be a busy day here tomorrow. Hopefully, my daughter will be able to drop by.”

“Okaasan, it’s okay, Mari-neechan doesn’t have to go either. It’s nothing important.”, Yuuri said, looking embarrassed. He put his own chopsticks down in his now empty bowl.

“Can we go?”, Axel discreetly asked Yuuri.

“You are not my family members.”, Yuuri replied under his breath, not unkindly.

“I’d love to see what you’ve been working on for so long, though! And I’d also like to see how the other boys are doing.”, Hiroko insisted, turning towards Victor once again, “It’s been a long time since you boys came to sing here… Your bandmates should be all grown up too!”

“Oh, my bandmates are doing okay!”, Victor happily replied, “But only Yuri Plisetsky, the bass guitar player, attends our school. He’s in our class, actually. He hasn’t gotten much taller, though.”, he chuckled, “Jean-Jacques Leroy, the vocalist, and Otabek Altin, the drummer, both go to different high schools.”

“Oh, I see.”, Hiroko replied sweetly, adjusting the glasses on her nose, “Well, I hope to see them again soon! You boys are always welcome here, to dinner and to our onsen too!”, she announced while getting to her feet, “Well, I have to go. Dinner rush is just now starting. I’ll leave you to it, then. It was nice seeing you again, Nikiforov-kun.”

“Likewise, Katsuki-san.”, Victor replied with a big smile and a small bow.

“Shouldn’t you girls go back home? It’s getting late for you. I’m sure your mother will be worried soon.”, Hiroko said to the triplets.

The girls looked at their respective wrist watches in perfect synchrony.

“Er…”

“Oh…”

“Yeah. We should go.”

“Thanks for the autograph, Victor!”

Yuuri frowned.

“Yes, thank you, Victor!”

“My pleasure.”, Victor replied with a smile.

“Bye, Yuuri!”

“Good luck for tomorrow.”

“Bye.”, Yuuri replied, suddenly looking nervous.

And so, the three noisy twins left. The restaurant was relatively quiet despite there being various costumers around having their own dinners, some of them arriving just now.

“I should go too. But I’ll be back to give that onsen of yours a try.”, Victor said, winking and raising to his feet. Yuuri mimicked the movement.

“S-sure. Let… let me walk with you part of the way?”

“Be my guest.”, Victor replied with a flourish, motioning for Yuuri to lead the way.

Yuuri stopped at the reception to inform his father that he was going out, telling him he’d be back soon. Viktor waved a short polite goodbye.

* * *

 

“Thank you. For the meal. And for this.”, Victor said with a bright smile, bringing the soda bottle up to his lips.

On passing the park, Victor had innocently remarked on how thirsty he was, which had led Yuuri to run to the nearest vending machine and get them both sodas. They were now sitting side by side on the stone chairs surrounding the park’s little artificial pond, sipping at their respective sweet carbonated drinks.

The sound of crickets and water falling in the fountain overpowered all other nightly sounds. It was a cloudless night; the moon was shining brightly and some stars could be seen if you looked hard enough through the low light of the multiple street lamps.

“Oh, it was nothing compared to what you did for me. But since this was the last time…”, Yuuri looked down at the hands holding the bottle on his lap, “You really helped me a lot, Nikiforov. Thank you.”

A fish sped up near the surface in the pond. Yuuri started raising his own bottle to his lips. Victor released a humourless chuckle and stared at the fountain.

“Katsuki, did you work this hard on the song all for Giaco-sen’s sake?”

Yuuri’s movement stopped, bottle halfway to its destination.

He turned all his upper body to stare at Victor like he’d been slapped, the bottle dropped to the ground and rolled away, fizzy, sweet smelling liquid staining the dry stone.

“W-what?”

For a fraction of a second neither of them moved, both just staring at each other, then Victor elegantly jumped to his feet to catch the spilling bottle.

“N-no…”, Yuuri faltered, raising to his feet as well, “It’s okay, I… I can…”

They ended up both simultaneously grabbing at the fallen bottle, Yuuri’s right hand on top of Victor’s left, shoulders touching, faces mere centimetres apart.

And it was all it took. On an impulse, Victor held the other boy’s nape with his right hand, leaned forward just so and their lips touched.

The bottle cap rolled away into the abruptly silent night.

Eyes wide open, lips connected, they froze. Yuuri blinked once, rapidly, never losing eye contact. He looked frightened. Victor pulled away. It was just a peck, a couple seconds long, at most, but it felt like a rush. Exhilarating, but frightening. Terrifying.

“I’m sorry.”, Victor said, raising to his feet. Yuuri’s head followed his upward movement. Huge frightened doe eyes stared up at him, mouth ajar. His face was pale, shock written all over it. This was probably bad.

Victor steeled himself, leaned his head sideways with an attempted playful smirk, grabbed his bag and turned his back on the still crouching boy.

“See you tomorrow.”, he said with painfully false cheer and walked away. Yuuri made no move to stop him.

 _It truly had all been for that guy’s sake_.

It hurt.

* * *

 

Impervious to this relational catastrophe, the 33rd Hasetsunishi High School Choir Festival still happened the following day. 

* * *

 

“And now, a round of applause for class A of second year. They will be bringing us the opera song, _Stammi vicino, non te ne andare._ ”, the teacher presented on the microphone while they got to their places on the stage benches.

Giacometti-sensei got on the stage as well and the audience released a few expressions of surprise. He was dressed in an elegant black suit, with bright red velvet lapels and folds, looking in all honesty more like a classy porn star than a teacher. Although too flashy to Victor’s personal tastes, the boy would agree that his teacher looked especially ravishing in that outfit.

Victor took a deep breath and, for the first time since his arrival – he’d been valiantly avoiding doing so –, Victor stole a peek at Yuuri.

Yuuri stood a couple benches down his own bench, back straight, looking perfectly composed.

Victor vaguely wondered if any of Yuuri’s relatives had made it to the festival. Victor’s mother hadn’t come. But then, to be fair, he hadn’t told her about any of this. If he was being completely honest, the only soul that knew about Katsuki Yuuri back at home was Makkachin. He was the only one who cared, anyway.

Giacomentti-sensei raised his arms and the piano intro started. This was it, the climax of all their effort, the end of their interaction.

At the teacher’s sign, the boys started singing in unison.

 

 _♫_ _Sento una voce che piange lontano_

 _Anche tu, sei stato forse abbandonato?_ _♫_

 

 _He’s singing without a problem_., Victor observed relieved, eyes fixed on Yuuri’s back.

Katsuki Yuuri. There he was, looking straight ahead. Staring at Giaco-sen, delivering to him the result of his hard work. An offering full of dedication and love. _For that guy_.

Victor felt like crying. Instead, he took a sudden inhale. Right by his side, Yuri turned to him, one eyebrow raised in question. Victor looked down.

“What?”, Yuri murmured under his breath. Victor ignored him and kept singing.

 

 _♫_ _Stammi vicino, non te ne andare_

 _Ho paura di perderti_ _♫_

 

 _What a long song. Why couldn’t it be over already?_ , Victor agonized, now staring at his shoes. He didn’t need Giacometi-sensei’s directions, he had memorized the whole thing, he could do it mechanically. Also, the teacher was the last person he wanted to look at right now.

The song came to an end and was closely followed by a round of applause. After a nearly indiscernible echo of disgusted groans – Giacometti-sensei had probably expressed his inadequate orgasmic tendencies again –, class A bowed nearly simultaneously and then made their way down the stage.

As they were all walking back to their seats in the audience, Yuri forcefully grabbed at Victor’s forearm.

“What. Is. It.”, he growled like only Yuri knew how.

Victor pulled his arm free in one swift elegant move and purposefully walked towards Yuuri. He had made a decision.

“Katsuki, come with me.”

Yuuri jumped at hearing his name being called, then looked at Victor wide-eyed, nodded and followed him.

“What the hell, Victor?”, Yuri almost spit from behind him.

“Where are you two going?”, Giacometti-sensei asked when he saw them leaving.

Victor stopped on his tracks and turned to the teacher, some frightening murderous desire suddenly arising in his chest.

“Toilet.”, Yuuri answered without a beat.

“Both of you?”, the teacher asked with a mocking tone. Some of the nearest students snickered discreetly.

“Yes.”, Yuuri replied seriously.

Christophe Giacometti evaluated them with a mildly amused expression, then winked at Yuuri and nodded his permission.

“But be right back here afterwards.”, Giacometti-sensei added as an afterthought, already changing the focus of his attention.

Victor walked out of the school gymnasium, Yuuri by his side. No one else payed them any mind. Silently, they walked and walked, deeper and deeper into the school’s gardens. They were surrounded by green-leaved trees whispering to the warm gentle Summer breeze. Their bodies, illuminated by the strong radiance of the sun, were sprinkled with passing shadows as they moved under the treetops.

Victor abruptly came to a halt. Yuuri stopped too and stood in front of him, a slightly worried expression on his pale face. He seemed ready to soldier through some really bad news.

Victor smiled at him and tried to put up a relaxed front. It was a fake smile, they both knew it, but still, Yuuri tried to smile back at him.

“Nikiforov, what…?”, he started softly, like he was afraid of frightening Victor away.

“Do you have feelings for Giaco-sen?”, Victor interrupted, false cheerfulness permeating his every word.

Yuuri’s eyes almost popped out of its sockets.

“What? No!”, he sounded scandalized. He also sounded sincere. Painfully so.

 _Really?_ , was Victor’s inner reaction, _Do I have a chance, then?_ , he dared to hope, immediately changing tactics.

“Do you have a lover?”, he teasingly tested.

“No.”, Yuuri sounded and looked confused.

“Any ex-lovers?”, Victor cheerfully perused.

“N-no comment.”, Yuuri looked outright uncomfortable now, blushing slightly and looking down.

“Let’s talk about me, then!”, Victor happily decided. Yuuri looked back up like whiplash, eyes wide open. Victor went on, undisturbed, “My first lover was…”

“Stop!”, Yuuri almost screamed. He looked embarrassed, but he also looked… determined.

“Don’t change subjects, Nikiforov. Yesterday, too…”, his voice faltered almost imperceptibly on the word ‘yesterday’. Then, he took a deep breath, stood straighter and taller and categorically _interrogated_ , “Why do you keep bringing up Giacometti-sensei?”

His tone of voice, his face, even his posture, this was Yuuri’s serious mode. There was no way Victor could avoid answering this. He looked Yuuri straight in the eye and smiled.

“B-because…”, Victor hesitated, ice blue eyes locked with Yuuri’s chocolate-brown ones, “Because it feels like I might have fallen in love with you.”

Yuuri blinked twice in rapid succession, like he needed to make sure his eyes weren’t actually popping out of their sockets. His mandible was slack, his face pale. He looked shocked and confused.

“But you… Well, I thought you were doing your best for Giaco-sen and I felt like… like I was helping the enemy…”, Victor finished with a humourless chuckle and looked down at his shoes. He’d said too much. And Yuuri had said nothing to his love confession just now.

So what if Yuuri didn’t have a lover and wasn’t interested in their teacher? That didn’t automatically mean he would be interested in Victor. Was he about to get rejected? Fear clutched at his chest.

“Nikiforov…”, Yuuri almost whispered, hesitant.

Victor couldn’t look up. He wouldn’t.

“Nikiforov.”, Yuuri said, surer, and took a step closer.

Victor still didn’t look up. He was steeling himself. Yuuri’s rejection would crush him, he knew.

A gentle, warm weight rested on Victor’s left shoulder.

“Listen.”, Yuuri started softly, “I never said anything about it being for Giacometti-sensei’s sake.”

Victor nodded. He could see that now.

Yuuri’s thumb started making little comforting circles on Victor’s shoulder. Hope threatened to rise in his chest again.

“Just… it was… Singing with you was…”

Victor looked up. Yuuri was beet red and intently staring at his own shoes now.

“It was…”

It felt like two stray pieces of Victor’s heart had just come together, like a precious puzzle he didn’t even know he owned before.

Victor smiled tenderly and raised a hand to affectionately cup Yuuri’s cheek. He was just so beautiful.

“It was what?”, he fondly pressed.

Yuuri raised his face to look at him, lips slightly apart. As soon as they made eye contact, they started to slowly tilt towards each other, about to…

“VIC-TOR!”, came the raging call from afar. The boys jumped apart, startled.

“Plisetsky-kun?!”, Yuuri whispered, looking afraid.

“Either Giaco-sen sent him to look for us or he volunteered.”, Victor whispered back with a chuckle, looking around, searching for… A positively mischievous smirk graced Victor’s face and he took Yuuri’s hand in his, pulling gently.

“Come, quickly.”

* * *

 

“VICTOR! KATSUKI!”, Yuri screamed nearby. Footsteps came and went and soon the voice sounded more distant.

Sitting inside the small garden utilities shack in the near darkness, Yuuri leant against the slightly open door, peeking outside. It smelled like grass and wet earth, but it was dry and cooler than the Summer day outside.

“We should go back.”, he murmured.

Victor, sitting in the dark in front of him, seductively grabbed Yuuri’s chin, leant forward and purred, as he would have done in his fantasies, “Katsuki… tell me everything about you.”

Yuuri blushed deliciously, pleasantly warm under Victor’s fingers, soft lips slightly apart, eyes sparkling.

“… for example…”, Victor tilted closer, a couple centimetres away from Yuuri’s face now, “… Do you think… glasses… get in the way during kissing…?”

No. Victor doubted Yuuri thought that, because, to him, that kiss felt just as natural and as right as breathing.

Everything was soft and warm and the cicadas were singing.

 

**[Summer – End]**


	3. [Intermission I]

_Coarse the rush-mat roof_

_Sheltering the harvest-hut_

_Of the Autumn rice-field;_

_And my sleeves are growing wet_

_With the moisture dripping through._

**– Tenchi Tenno**

 

The sound of the rain hitting the windows outside, along with the cosy atmosphere of the dry, warm classroom and Cialdini-sensei’s monotonous reading was threatening to lull Victor to sleep. It was a nice threat, though.

He felt happy. The happier he’d felt in all his 16 years of life.

Emil passed him a bunch of paper sheets. Victor took one and passed the rest to Georgi, who sat behind him in this class. Georgi grabbed the sheets and openly yawned.

“Did everyone get a printout?”, Cialdini-sensei asked his students, “Well, now, let’s see. This song is read as a love song. Firstly, it’s Autumn…”

Victor supported his chin on his hands and released a little dreamy sigh. Yuri, who sat at the desk to his left, profligately rolled his eyes at him. Victor threw a comically radiant smile at him. Yuri gagged, repulsed. Victor chuckled. It seemed even Yuri was in high spirits today.

 _I finally found someone that I like…_ , Victor mused, eyes sliding over Yuri to his favourite place in the whole classroom. Yuuri was sitting 3 desks to his left, after both falsely nauseated Yuri and truly asleep Leo.

 _Wearing the same uniform and the same shoes…_ , Victor observed. Dressed in their uniform’s black coat and absentmindedly holding his automatic pencil halfway to his mouth, there was a slight hunch to Yuuri’s posture.

“Beside the rice paddy is a hut…”, Cialdini-sensei droned on, monotonal.

 _Sitting in the same class, born in the same year_., Victor thought with a smile. Yuuri turned his head to look back at him and immediately returned the smile.

“Oh, please…”, Yuri whined between them. Leo sat straighter on his chair, suddenly waking up from his peaceful snooze and looking disoriented.

“And the hut’s roof is made of tough material…”

 

**[Intermission I – End]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know, this was tiny. But I will make it up to you with a huge chapter tomorrow! (Hopefully.)


	4. [Autumn]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter that delivered the “Dubious Consent” tag to this fic’s tag collection. It’s something that is only mildly there. But make no mistake, the dubious consent component of the situation is still quite present. Proceed with caution if this might be a trigger for you.

“What is this… thing between you and Katsuki?”, Yuri asked. His tone was uncharacteristically neutral, he sounded almost genuinely curious.

They were getting changed in the classroom after PE class. Nishigori-sensei excused them before everyone else because they had been the first two to finish the exercises and were just goofing around doing nothing.

Victor stripped free of his sweaty sweater, soft grey hair looking like it had been expertly moulded into stylish dishevelment. Yuri’s big green eyes bore into him like daggers up from his perch, sitting on top of the desk.

“What thing?”, Victor countered innocently.

Yuri released an exasperated sigh, like he was already regretting ever bringing this up. Victor proceeded to buttoning up his uniform’s white shirt.

“You know what I mean.”, Yuri accused, “There was that… stuff at the choir festival… And today you two kept staring at each other like complete morons during Lit class. You always ditch me after lunch to go hang out with him. And you haven’t accepted a lift on my bike in ages. I know you love my bike. You’ve been walking home with him, haven’t you?”

“Ah, _that_ thing!”, Victor exclaimed, dropping his right fist into his left palm as if he was just now understanding what Yuri had been trying to tell him.

Yuri was unimpressed by Victor’s acting skills.

“I don’t care either way. But this is an all-boys school and word about stuff like this spreads fast…”

“Oh, Yuri…!”, Victor exclaimed, reverently taking one hand to his own chest, “Could it be that you are… worried about me??”

“Don’t be stupid. You know that he’s from a totally different genre. From us.”

“Genre?”, Victor asked curiously.

Yuri huffed, annoyed by Victor’s attitude, “Yeah. So, you two being together… it’s…”

“Weird?”, now Victor was honestly intrigued by Yuri’s words.

“Yeah, kind of weird.”, Yuri conceded.

Hidden behind the not quite closed sliding classroom door, accidently eavesdropping Katsuki Yuuri, clad in his sports’ wear, looked hurt and walked away. The last thing he heard was laughing. He felt as cold as the rain falling outside.

* * *

 

Victor was laughing, indeed. He thought Yuri’s logic was hilarious.

“But it would be okay if Katsuki was like Otabek, right?”, Victor mocked him, “Precisely like Otabek, I mean.”

The reaction was immediate.

“Shut up, old man.”, Yuri put on a surprisingly menacing kind of pout, “Otabek _is_ our genre, you know perfectly well what I mean.”

“Shall I invite Katsuki to join the Grand Prix? He would become our genre, then!”, Victor joked, good humouredly ignoring Yuri’s name-calling. They were the same age, but Yuri often called him ‘old man’ because of Victor’s grey hair.

“Don’t. You. Dare.”, Yuri growled, “It’s not that, stop playing dumb-”

“Aw, Yurochka, I thought you were worried, but it turns out you are just jealous…!”, Victor happily interrupted him, throwing his arms out and taking a step towards his now retracting friend, “Don’t worry, you still are my favourite grumpy kitten in the whole world! Come here!!”, he screamed comically, forcefully hugging the repulsed blonde boy.

* * *

  

The rain, although not as cold as Yuuri had perceived it that morning, kept stubbornly falling throughout the whole day.

After school, Victor and Yuuri left together. They’d been doing this for the last couple months or so, Victor would walk Yuuri to his prep school and then walk back in the contrary direction to go to the band rehearsals. In the rare days when they weren’t busy with either prep school or band rehearsals, Victor would walk Yuuri home by the beachline and often stay over for dinner. He really liked the katsudon from the Katsukis, perhaps almost as much as he liked the Katsukis themselves.

“Good afternoon.”, Victor greeted the customary fisherman on the bridge that crossed over the mouth of Matsuura River to Hasetsu Castle.

“Good afternoon.”, the man greeted with a kind smile directed at the two boys, then adjusted the hood of his yellow raincoat.

That day, they were walking side by side under the rain, sharing a blue umbrella. They were walking in silence, now passing by a deserted residential area, Victor holding the umbrella between and over them in his left hand, Yuuri’s right shoulder touching Victor’s left every now and then. To Victor, it looked like there was something bothering Yuuri. The brunette would always go quieter when he had something on his mind.

“Hey… just drop me here, Nikiforov. This is far enough.”, Yuuri softly requested, not looking at Victor.

“Just a little longer.”, Victor replied in the same tone.

“The prep school is just around that corner.”, Yuuri insisted, turning his face slightly to look at Victor.

“Well then, ‘till that corner.”, he decided, flashing Yuuri an affectionate little smile.

Yuuri tried to reciprocate the smile, but failed. His gaze slid to Victor’s right shoulder, which was visibly drenched.

“Your shoulder…!”, he gasped softly.

“Hm?”

“You should move the umbrella a little more to your side. Isn’t your shoulder getting cold?”, Yuuri looked a bit worried.

“Oh, that’s fine. The cold doesn’t bother me and I never use an umbrella when I’m alone, anyway.”, Victor shrugged, flashing Yuuri another radiant smile. Yuuri blushed slightly and looked away, “This reminds me, back in grade school, they kept telling us that acid rain would make you go bald…”, Victor stopped walking abruptly, causing Yuuri to stop too and look back at him again, mild apprehension clear on his face, “Do you think _I_ am going bald?”, Victor asked, bending slightly to show Yuuri the top of his head.

For a couple seconds, there was no reaction from Yuuri and all Victor could hear was the splashing sound of the rain falling around them. Then, suddenly, Victor felt a cold finger bump gently against the very centre of his hair swirl. Victor tensed up and slowly took his right hand to his own head.

“Ah! S-sorry! I couldn’t help it!”, Yuuri exclaimed, sounding embarrassed.

“Is it getting that thin?”, Victor asked with false sadness, keeping his bent position while smiling mischievously at the wet ground. _The mission is on_.

“No, no, no! Everything is okay!”, Yuuri desperately tried to assure him a couple notes above his normal tone of voice.

“I’m hurt… I can’t recover from this.”, Victor moaned miserably, bending his knees slightly, pulling the umbrella and, consequently, Yuuri, down with him.

Yuuri grabbed at his arms, pulling him upwards, alarmed.

“Sorry! Please get up. Come on, Nikiforov, it’s raining…! Don’t…”, he sounded sincerely worried.

Victor stood straight and looked right into the other’s confused and worried eyes. Yuuri was so cute.

“May I kiss you?”

Yuuri frowned, then pouted, figuring out that he’d been played, “No.”

Victor ignored the rejection and deliberately leaned into him. Yuuri’s cute pout got embellished by an even cuter blush, but the boy leaned away from him. Victor angled his face towards his neck. Yuuri took a step backwards and his back hit a metal fence. Victor slowly came nearer. Yuuri closed his eyes, their lips connected halfway. _Mission accomplished_.

The umbrella was being squished against the fence and the fence was wet against Yuuri’s back, rain kept falling around them in the deserted street, but none of that mattered because Yuuri was melting against Victor… until he wasn’t.

He gently, but surely pushed Victor away, looking pale and… regretful? _Conflicted_., Victor’s brain helpfully supplied. The umbrella fell to the floor and rolled away into a puddle.

“No.”, he repeated to the ground, voice not as steady as he’d have wished.

Victor got the poor umbrella back.

“Why not?”, he carefully asked, “We’re dating, aren’t we?”

“We’re not.”, Yuuri declared and started walking away from Victor.

Victor gave a little run to catch up to him. He covered Yuuri with the umbrella and leaned over his right shoulder from behind.

“But don’t we kiss?”

Yuuri stopped walking. He kept staring straight ahead. He looked sad.

Something heavy dropped in Victor’s chest, but he tried to ignore it.

“Do you kiss people you’re not even dating? Katsuki-kun.”, Victor murmured in a light reproachful joking tone, with a mischievous little smile and a seductive wink to try and improve the mood.

Yuuri looked to the ground and dry-gulped. He looked close to tears now.

Victor stood straight, getting off the other’s shoulder. _What’s going on here?_

“Then, let’s end this.”, Yuuri shakily declared to the ground.

“Huh?”, Victor murmured weakly, taking a half step back.

“You’ve done more than enough for me, Nikiforov. Thanks to you, I was able to give everything I had in the choir festival.”, he turned his body towards Victor, still looking fixedly at the rain-stained pavement, “Thank you for everything, Nikiforov.”

Yuuri made a respectful little bow and turned, walking away from him in a fast pace.

Victor just stood there, in the middle of the deserted residential street, holding his little blue umbrella under the cold, cold rain. The wetness on his cheeks, tough, was warm and salty.

“Damn… I didn’t expect Katsuki Yuuri to be such a selfish human being.”, he said to the muddy rain puddle on the ground next to him. It looked almost as miserable as he did. Almost.

* * *

 

College counselling. What a waste of his time, being forced to sit down with Giacometti-sensei during lunch break to write his college options. All Victor ever cared about in his whole life was music. Well, music and Yuu…

“This is a waste of time.”, Victor complained, interrupting his own train of thought.

There was a dry tap to the top of his head. Giacometti-sensei had hit him with a rolled-up magazine he’d just grabbed from the bookcase behind Victor.

“None of that, Nikiforov.”, he said waving his magazine roll as he returned to his place in front of Victor at the desk, “I don’t care if it’s some stupid college or some useless major, just write down any 3 options.”

Victor was distracted by the bright blue handkerchief that was elegantly popping out of the breast pocket of the Music teacher’s silver suit.

 _Why does this guy always dress like he’s going to his own wedding? Also, what kind of counselling was that just now?_ , Victor mused, small fake smile in place.

“… 20 years too early for that. You can do that stuff once you get all the important things figured out.”, Giacometti-sensei proceeded on his lecture, unaware of his interlocutor’s now complete lack of attention to his words.

Victor’s smile had slowly melted into a blank expression, gaze aimlessly sliding to the windows beside them.

_Huh?_

He could see a shape down there, by the school gates. It was like a huge greyish brown wet wool ball. _Is that Makkachin?_ , he wondered, concerned, _Go back home, you silly, you must be drenched!_., he urged in his head.

Lately, Victor’s poodle pet dog had been following him halfway to school almost every morning. It was like he knew Victor had been dumped and was worried about him. Apparently, he’d made it all the way to school today.

 _I’m okay, Makkachin, go home_., he thought, willing his words to telepathically reach he poor rain-drenched pooch.

And… it looked like it worked, because the shape promptly got to his feet, shook off the rain and confidently trotted away in the direction of home. Victor sighed in relief.

“… 50 years too early to think that you can hand in a blank form…”, Giacometti-sensei was still at it. Victor spaced out again, harder this time.

“Coarse…”, Victor said dreamily.

“Huh?”

“Coarse… the rush mat… roof… How did it go again?”

“What. Are you. Talking about.”, Giacometti-sensei asked very slowly, like he feared Victor had suddenly lost the very little sanity he possessed.

Victor turned a radiant smile his way. The Music teacher internally recoiled. Victor Nikiforov had the power of spooking him with his icy kind of beauty alone.

Giacometti-sensei looked away, trying to compose himself, opened his magazine to a random page and pretended to focus on it.

“Something from Lit class.”, Victor explained, “Er, coarse-”

“You and Katsuki have been getting along pretty well lately, haven’t you?”, the teacher interrupted, trying to sound uninterested. Victor went dead still. It looked like he managed to strike a nerve. A somewhat cruel little smile graced his full lips.

“That is, until recently, I mean...”, Giacometti-sensei drawled provokingly, absentmindedly scratching at his stubble, “Lately, you two…”

An ice-cold laugh interrupted the teacher’s provocation. He looked up from his magazine, shocked, bright green eyes comically round.

“Really? Is that what you think?”, Victor chuckled humourlessly, “Well, that’s none of your business.”, he declared, a sort of cold finality giving Christophe Giacometti the sensation of frostbite. He tried not to shiver and collect himself. But he had to admit, he admired Victor Nikiforov. He could only imagine the fascinating adult he’d one day become.

“I suppose it isn’t, but...”, the teacher agreed with a small smile, turning his attention back to his magazine. A pause went by, neither of them moving or speaking.

“… I’ve known him first, you know.”, Giacometti-sensei finished, still staring at his magazine. Victor didn’t give any sign of hearing him.

“He’s popular among the teachers, of course. Perhaps the best brain that ever attended here.”, he took a small considering peek at Victor, “Or rather… the brain that took better use of his potential at this school, anyway…”

The bell started ringing.

“Well then, lunch break is over.”, the teacher declared, putting down his magazine and rising to get to his next class, “Nikiforov, please tell Katsuki to come here after school for his college counselling.”, he said while walking out of the door, sounding bored.

Victor just sat there, no expression on his face while it started pouring even harder outside.

 _I’ve known him first_.

* * *

 

That stupid poem just wouldn’t leave his mind, bending and dominating over every other thought, like it was shoving things around inside Victor’s head in order to find somewhere to fit.

“Coarse the rush mat roof…”, he recited under his breath as he walked back to the classroom.

 _I’ve known him first_.

“… sheltering the harvest-hut… of the…”, he kept reciting while staring at his feet.

He almost walked into someone while trying to go through the classroom doorway. He looked up.

Warm, huge brown eyes looked back into his through blue rimmed glasses. Yuuri looked like a little wild animal, frozen in front of a car’s headlights.

“Ah, Katsuki!”, Victor greeted enthusiastically, easily putting on a fake smile that was just a little less fake because that was _Yuuri_.

Yuuri looked down and walked past him as if he hadn’t heard him.

Victor’s heart fell and he suddenly felt angry. He was screaming before he even noticed it.

“Stop being such a selfish human being.”

The teenage-boy-filled classroom went silent. All faces turned to Victor, even Yuri’s. He looked taken aback, which was something you didn’t see happening to Yuri Plisetsky that often. Victor’s mouth went dry.

“Victor? Just what…?”, Yuri started to ask.

“What is this? A fight??”, Kenjirou interrupted him, sounding nervous. A few boys laughed, mocking him.

Yuuri was standing still a few paces from Victor, back towards him. He slowly turned his head to awkwardly look back at him, almost expectantly.

“Katsuki, Giaco-sen wants to see you after school for college counselling.”, he almost vomited the words.

“Okay.”, Yuuri mechanically replied, looking down and ahead. And resumed his walk towards his desk. He looked… sad? Hurt. Victor couldn’t bear it. He looked away.

The bell rang again and everyone got to their seats, most boys immediately discarding what had just transpired from their minds. Victor valiantly avoided Yuri’s piercing glare as the Math teacher began the lesson.

* * *

 

“Come on, Victor. Get that ass off that chair and let’s go.”, Yuri testily repeated himself, “Do you want a ride on my bike or not?”

Victor turned his head slightly just so that he could look up at his friend.

Yuri was standing by Victor’s desk, arms crossed over his chest, menacing frown firmly stuck to his face. His resemblance to an angry kitten was uncanny. He did look a little more imposing now that he was staring down at someone who was seated with their head laying on their arms, Victor had to give him that. What a feat.

Victor buried his face back on his arms and released a pitiful sigh.

As soon as the bell marking the end of the last lesson of the day was heard, Yuuri had all but run out of the door, leaving Victor to numbly stare at the doorway while everyone else made their way out. Victor couldn’t look at him during the whole afternoon, afraid of what he might see if he did. So, when Yuuri crossed his field of vision towards the exit, Victor was all but slapped with the expression that was on the other boy’s face. He had been dejectedly resting his head on his arms ever since.

 _He looked angry_., Victor thought, finally giving in to Yuri’s annoyed (worried) persistence and getting to his feet, _Or rather, he looked_ …

“About time you quit being such a drama queen…!”, Yuri drawled disdainfully, trying to hide his relief.

* * *

 

Yuuri was numbly sitting at the desk. His eyes were sad and glassy; his head was hanging in a defeated attitude and he was looking down at an indefinite point on the wooden table.

Any doubts Christophe Giacometti had about the boy’s current relationship standing with Victor Nikiforov went right out the window as soon as he took a good look at him.

Standing by the open window, looking at the rain outside, Giacometti-sensei recited, “Course the rush mat roof, sheltering the harvest hut of the Autumn rice-field… was it?”

“Excuse me?”, Yuuri asked, looking up from his daze, vaguely confused.

“Something Nikiforov said.”, he clarified. A pang of pain crossed Yuuri’s face and he looked the other way, trying to hide his reaction from the Music teacher.

 _Touché_.

“Well, never mind that.”, he said, closing the window, “There really isn’t much that I need to talk to you about…”, the teacher confessed, walking towards his own chair at the desk and sitting down, “As long as you keep up your grades, I don’t think you’ll have any problems getting into your school of choice, whatever it may be.”, he grabbed a random book on the desk and pretended to focus on it, “All that is left is your physical and mental health management.”

Yuuri nodded numbly, still staring at the table.

A pause.

“Have you been dumped?”

Yuuri’s eyes assumed double their normal size and he slowly looked up, pain, confusion and disbelief clear on his face.

“E-excuse me?”, he stuttered.

“You seem down.”, Giacometti-sensei explained simply, while getting back on his feet, “You and Nikiforov were dating, weren’t you?”, he sat against the table top beside Yuuri and stared down and straight into the boy’s eyes. Yuuri looked close to tears, but he said nothing.

“Perhaps I should use present tense and say that you guys are still dating?”, the teacher suggested, gently touching Yuuri’s chin with the very tips of his fingers, feathery light. He smiled affectionately, the smooth skin around his green eyes crinkling slightly. Yuuri tensed up, eyes opening impossibly wide.

“N-no.”, he replied in a feeble whisper. Tears finally overflowed out of his beautiful brown eyes and he started shaking against Giaometti-sensei’s fingers.

“In an all-boys’ high school, all men that aren’t like you and I, once they graduate and become free…”, Giacometti-sensei whispered while seductively leaning closer Yuuri’s face, “… once they find themselves in an environment where women are always around, they will start chasing after them.”

“That’s…”, Yuuri breathed weakly, tears sliding down his cheeks.

“Katsuki. Deep down, you know this. Victor Nikiforov isn’t like us. He’s from a different genre altogether.”

 _You know that he’s from a totally different genre. From us_., Yuri Plisetsky’s words reverberated against the walls of Yuuri’s head.

He felt dizzy. He felt queasy.

He felt pliable under Christophe Giacometti’s fingers.

Said fingers gently took away his glasses.

 _Of course. It had to be like this_., Yuuri numbly realized, not fighting when the teacher easily pulled him from his chair, sat him on the table top in front of him and fit himself in the space between his knees, _Someone like me would never be able to keep someone like Victor Nikiforov. I have nothing to offer him_.

He felt empty. A wave of nausea, like he was fainting. Giacometti-sensei was the only thing holding him up. And he was impossibly close. Nothing made sense anymore.

Yuuri released a small sob, like the last spasm of a dying creature and then he let go.

* * *

 

Yuri Plisetski sizzled with rage, watching his friend running back under the rain in the direction of the school. The bastard had just put him through a cruel world of relentless… stalling manoeuvres.

After much persuasion from Yuri’s side, Victor eventually walked out of the classroom, albeit at a snail’s pace. But, once they made it to the deserted lockers and changed shoes, Victor suddenly declared his absolute need to use the first-floor bathroom, which he did (meaning, he changed shoes two more times). After that, Victor insisted in doing a little search around the school gates, supposedly to check if his dog wasn’t there (that was when Yuri wondered if he should start worrying about Victor’s mental health, both inaudibly and out loud). Then, they _slowly walked_ under the heavy rain towards Yuri’s motorbike, took half an eternity to get on said bike and to put their helmets on, and, as soon as Yuri finally turned the engine on, Victor all but _screamed_ into his ear.

“I’m going back!”, and hopped off the purring bike, hurriedly returning his helmet to a boiling Yuri.

“WHAT??”

“Don’t wait for me!”, he said with a big smile, waving enthusiastically at the snarling teen and running towards where they’d just come from.

Yuri waved an obscene hand gesture at Victor’s withdrawing back, adjusted his grip on the handle and drove away.

Victor was now running up the stairs and through the empty corridors, drenched clothes and shoes making wet squishy sounds that echoed against the taciturn walls in pace with his gasping breaths. His hair was sticking coldly to his nape and face, but the panic in his chest was burning hot. He could barely breathe.

 _Coarse the rush-mat roof, sheltering the harvest-hut of the Autumn rice-field_ …, his head seemed to scorn his wheezing desperation.

Earlier that afternoon, when Yuuri left the classroom, he didn’t look angry, he looked… he looked _like he was about to cry_.

* * *

 

The office’s door was forcefully slid open with a loud bang, making Giacometti-sensei release Yuuri halfway to the kiss, like he’d been burned.

Now without physical support, Yuuri swayed in place and sluggishly turned his tear-stained face towards the door, gazing dazedly at the familiar shape that stood there. _Nikiforov?_ , his emotionally bruised brain speculated, making use of only the poor eyesight he’d been born with.

No one said or did anything for a couple seconds. Then, Victor’s panicked face turned livid cold with rage and he slowly walked to a frozen Giacometti-sensei, coming to imposingly stand between him and Yuuri.

Giacometti-sensei’s mouth moved silently, face looking deadly pale, green eyes open wide, eyebrows drawn impossibly high, into his hairline. He looked terrified.

“T-this isn’t what it loo-”, the teacher started in a rasping, frightened whisper.

“We won’t tell if you don’t.”, Victor interrupted in a surprisingly calm, unbelievably cold tone of voice.

Yuuri was slowly coming out of his daze. He couldn’t see Victor’s expression, but it must’ve looked petrifying – or maybe it was just the way the other boy said that –, because Giacometti-sensei looked like he was either about to screech his brains out or urinate himself in fear. Surprisingly, he spoke.

“W-what do you-?”

“This.”, Victor replied before the teacher could finish, punching him hard on the face.

The movement was fluid, but powerful, a sort of merciless elegance to it. Giacometti-sensei was thrown back with the force of it, falling to the wooden floor with a smash and a moan and staying there. There was blood on his face. Probably a broken nose.

Victor then turned to Yuuri.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”, he asked softly, raising a hand to hesitantly touch Yuuri’s tear-stained cheek.

“Y-yes. No.”, was Yuuri’s hoarse reply. He sat a little straighter.

There was a pause. Victor’s strong façade cracked a bit.

“I’m… I’m sorry.”, Victor murmured shakenly, looking miserable. He fondly wiped at Yuuri’s mostly dried up tears with his thumb.

Yuuri looked confused, but he nodded. Victor cleared his voice, tried to collect himself.

“Can you stand?”

“Yes.”

“Then, let’s go, before someone shows up.”

* * *

 

The school building seemed empty, apart from them. They left and walked side by side under the rain for a long while, in silence. It was an odd silence, filled with equal parts relief and uncertainty. The cold rain falling all around them, although lighter, was still trying to seep into their bones. The sky above seemed to be getting less cloudy.

They walked towards the sea shore, shoes eventually stepping on wet sand, each pace slower. Finally, Victor came to a stop. Yuuri stood by his side. They both watched the almost setting sun.

“Coarse the rush-mat roof… sheltering the harvest-hut… of the Autumn rice-field… and my sleeves… my sleeves…”, Victor just couldn’t remember the rest of the poem.

“And my sleeves are growing wet with the moisture dripping through.”, Yuuri finished for him, “Indeed they are.”, Yuuri observed with a small smile, raising his right hand only to watch a few water drops falling from his own sleeve.

Victor turned his whole body to him, a huge bright smile taking over his face. Yuuri smiled back at him.

“Yes! That’s it!”, Victor exclaimed, throwing his arms out in cheer, “That’s the rest of the poem!”, he hugged Yuuri loosely, “Thank you, thank you, Katsuki. Now I can relax…!”

Yuuri hesitantly retributed the hug and gave a little laugh, not fully understanding Victor’s reaction, but feeling happy just for seeing him happy.

They were clad in cold wet clothes, exposed to the soft sea breeze, but Victor was warm where they were touching. It felt right.

Victor sighed against his neck, then released him and turned to look back at the horizon. It had stopped raining; progressively wider streaks of light were showing up between the clouds and some seagulls could be heard and seen overflying the water near the beach.

“The seagulls always remind me of my mother’s hometown, St Petersburg.”, Victor said, his gaze following the birds’ trajectory, “I was very little when we used to live there and I don’t remember much about the city, but, curiously, I remember the seagulls. And listening to them makes me miss something I don’t even remember having.”, he chuckled, “Has that ever happened to you?”

“No.”, Yuuri said, “But I miss coming to this beach with my dog and my best friend. The seagulls were always there in the background, so I suppose they remind me of how much I miss them…”, he finished sadly. Tears were threatening to overflow again.

“What happened to them?”, Victor asked carefully.

“Phichit-kun’s family had to move due to his parents’ work last year. I haven’t been able to visit him yet, but he comes over for weekends from time to time. And we speak almost every day. But it’s just not the same thing. M-my dog…”, Yuuri gulped, trying to control his emotions, _I have to be able to talk about this_., he thought, “… my dog died a few months after that.”

“I’m sorry.”, Victor whispered tenderly, putting an arm over Yuuri’s shoulders and squeezing comfortingly.

Yuuri leaned into him and sniffed pitifully.

“T-thanks.”, he murmured.

The sun was setting now, orange painting the sky and the sea in front of them. Yuuri released a little sigh and ran his fingers through his wet hair, pulling it back. Victor stared at him. Hair pulled back like that and without his glasses, Yuuri looked different. Another version of the boy he loved, of the person he wanted to be with, however that turned out to be. Victor honestly just wanted to always be near him, it didn’t matter in what shape or sense.

“Katsuki, before, you said that we weren’t dating.”, Victor began, hesitant.

Yuuri refused to turn his face to look at Victor. But it was okay, Victor was watching the setting sun too.

“What do you want me to be to you?”, Victor carefully pressed, “A classmate? A friend? A brother? A lover?”

 _You know that he’s from a totally different genre. From us_ … _In an all-boys’ high school, all men that aren’t like you and I, once they graduate and become free, once they find themselves in an environment where women are always around, they will start chasing after them…_ _Deep down, you know this. Victor Nikiforov isn’t like us. He’s from a different genre altogether._

Yuuri felt conflicted. He wanted something he wasn’t sure he was allowed to have, something he wasn’t sure he was even allowed to ask for.

“I want you… I want you to stay who you are. Just… be yourself. Be Victor Nikiforov.”

They turned towards each other without dislodging their half-embrace. Victor grinned mischievously.

“I, Victor Nikiforov, want to kiss you now. May I?”

Yuuri chuckled, then nodded once, blushing.

The sun had set behind them.

* * *

 

Watching over the two boys from the seafront promenade, sat Makkachin, happily wagging his fluffy chocolate tail at the sight.

 

**[Autumn – End]**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A jiff of angst in this chapter. But all ends well! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Next chapter will be another Intermission, but way longer than the previous one. Also, I think some of you might have been waiting for a little more insight into the relationship between Yuuri and Giacometti-sensei. If you have, next chapter is it. (^_~)


	5. [Intermission II]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a flashback about Yuuri and Giacometti-sensei. It’s based on a flashback that exists in the Doukyuusei manga only (it was sadly taken off the movie). You can see it as the equivalent to the drunk Yuuri banquet scene. Well, it has vaguely the same importance the banquet scene had to Yuuri’s and Christophe’s relationship, anyways.

“He said he’d known you first, Katsuki.”, the muffled voice of 2-A’s Victor Nikiforov could be heard from inside one of the classrooms as Christophe Giacometti was passing by it. There was a mildly accusatory tone to the statement.

The teacher halted behind the half-open door. It was the end of a long school day. There was no one else in the corridor.

“Who?”, Katsuki Yuuri ’s muffled voice could be heard asking. He sounded confused.

“Giaco-sen.”

“Giacometti-sensei?”, a pause, “Oh, that’s because Giacometti-sensei was the first person I met from this school.”

“Was he  _your first_ , then?”, Victor asked in caricatured mock-betrayal.

“Yes, he was the first person I  _met_.”, replied Yuuri neutrally, clearly not taking the bait.

A soft laugh drifted to Giacometti-sensei’s ears through the open door. A short comfortable silence followed. Then, the sound of a chair scratching the wooden floor and the gentle rustling of fabric…

* * *

 

**_Over one year ago…_ **

It was the opening ceremony. The school gym was filled to the rim with noisy and restless adolescents while, from his place on the stage, the elderly Principal dropped just about the exact same speech of the last 30 years or so. To the right of the stage, side by side in a line, stood all the school’s teachers.

Amongst them, one blonde, elegant, impeccably dressed, stylish individual stood out. Christophe Giacometti. The young, eccentric Music teacher at Hasetsu High School, an institution also known by many as “the school for idiots”, allegedly because you can pass there as long as you know how to write your own name.

Giacometti-sensei tried to mask a yawn. As a gay man, no, scratch that, as a human being, it irked him every year how most of the students at the all boys’ school didn’t even bother to groom themselves.

 _They’re just as smelly and dirty as always_., he observed with resentment while evaluating the first years. There was one boy that clearly stood out from the rest, though. Elegant features, pale skin, light blue eyes, sleek, silky, grey hair, stunning smile…  _Ah, this one is kinda… cute_., he thought.

“Giacometti-sensei!”, one of the older, balder teachers, whispered loudly from down his full height. Giacometti-sensei bent down slightly, so that the poor guy didn’t feel like he had to keep whisper-screaming and stretching up like that.

“Yes, may I help you?”, he politely asked.

“It seems like one of our students fainted at the train station. He’s a first year. Could you please go and pick him up, Giacometti-sensei?”

_Ah, what a bother…_

“Umm… If he’s feeling so badly that someone needs to collect him, isn’t it better for his parents to take him home instead?”, he asked in the nicest tone he could manage.

“Yes, well… His family owns a restaurant and onsen nearby, quite a nice place, you should go someday… But they usually take a few days of vacation around this time. And it seems like the boy returned early so he’d make it to the opening ceremony, of course, and he stayed over at his grandparents during the weekend…”

Giacometti-sensei valiantly supressed another yawn. Why did the teacher feel like he had to tell him the boy’s whole life story?  _How bothersome_ …

“… so, he had to take the train from his grandparents’ back here this morning and he collapsed right before arrival at Hasetsu’s train station. Anyway, his parents have been notified and will be back in a hour or so, but maybe you can just bring him here and we can let him rest at the school infirmary for now.”

Giacometti-sensei wanted to say no. Very badly. But Hasetsu High School was a private institution where the seniority system ruled and he  _was_  the younger teacher of the school. So, instead, he smiled and nodded, obediently turning and walking towards the exit to get the kid.

 _I feel like their scrap boy, sometimes_., Giacometti-sensei thought with a sigh while walking all the way towards the staff parking lot and his car. He then went to retrieve his car keys from his pocket.

 _Shoot, I left those at the office…_ , he belatedly realized.  _Ah, no. I’m not walking all the way back there to retrieve them_., he decided, walking instead in the direction of the “For Staff Only” yellow bicycles parked beside his own car.

 _The train station is near here, anyway. And I haven’t ridden one of those in ages_., he thought with a smile.

* * *

 

Mood relevantly improved with the ride, Giacometti-sensei finally arrived at the train station.

“Good morning, my name is Christophe Giacometti, I’m a teacher at Hasetsu High School, I-”, he started telling the guard at the first aid post in the train station.

“Ah, yes, we were informed. Thank you for coming.”, the guard interrupted while openly staring at Giacometti-sensei’s outfit, then turned and talked to a curtain, “Hey, isn’t it great? Your teacher is here.”, he informed, motioning Giacometti-sensei to come closer.

Behind the curtain was a stretcher. A boy was laying on the stretcher. Well, from his angle and distance, Giacometti-sensei couldn’t see his face yet. And…

 _What the hell. He’s half naked??_ , he thought in shock, zooming in on the exposed chest and loosened belt, immediately posing the frightening possibility that the boy had been molested. But, as the guard came closer and gently helped the boy to sit up and, as the boy, albeit deadly pale, calmly started buttoning up his shirt and fastening his belt, the teacher could think himself back into reason,  _He must’ve felt short of breath or suffocating and consequently loosened his clothes_.

“Have everything?”, the guard was asking the boy.

“Yeah. Thank you.”, was the other’s feeble reply.  _But he has a nice voice, a singing voice, even_., Giacometti-sensei thought absentmindedly.

“Your teacher came all the way here to get you, you must thank him.”

The boy grabbed for his blue-rimmed glasses, put them on and looked up, right into Giacometti-sensei’s eyes.

“Oh. Thank you.”, he said politely.

Even as shaken as he looked, he was a remarkably handsome boy. Coal black, sort of spiky, glossy hair framing two huge warm, brown eyes, a cute little nose and beautifully delineated lips.

Giacometti-sensei tried not to gawp. Tried.

“Hello.”, he belatedly greeted the boy, “Can you walk?”

* * *

 

Although the boy assured him that he could walk, he seemed unsteady on his legs during the short distance between the stretcher and the yellow bicycle. Giacometti-sensei internally regretted not going back for his car keys.

“Are you all right holding onto me?”

The boy – Katsuki, the other teacher had told him – nodded.

“If not, I’ll get you a taxi, okay?”

He nodded again.

“Also, tell me if you’re not feeling well.”

And so, they left, sharing the yellow school bicycle, student hugging his teacher’s middle, head resting heavily against the space between the young Music instructor’s shoulder blades. Christophe Giacometti couldn’t complain, really.

“Katsuki, right? And what is your given name?”, the teacher asked, partly to break the silence of the ride, partly to make sure the other hadn’t passed out on him.

“Yuuri.”, was the boy’s weak reply against his back.

“Katsuki Yuuri, huh?”

Now he remembered. This was the student who got full marks at the entrance exam. The teachers were enraptured.

 _I can’t believe such a brilliant kid would choose to come to our school, though_ …, Giacometti-sensei’s brain cogitated, conspirationally.

“Courage to win… born to win… Your parents clearly wanted you to succeed in life. And I guess you  _are_  humouring them!”, Giacometti-sensei chuckled.

The teacher was suddenly aware that the boy had started shivering against him.

“Sensei…”, Yuuri sounded breathless, “… I’m not feeling so good…”

They stopped at a park. Yuuri looked deadly pale, he was hyperventilating and shaking. He also looked terrified. Christophe Giacometti hadn’t seen many of these during his life, but he was pretty sure that this was a panic attack… or something like that.

Had this been triggered by what he’d just said?  _Shoot_., he eloquently thought as Yuuri bent over and threw up the yellowish translucid contents of his empty stomach. The teacher knelt beside the shaking boy and rubbed at his back, speaking calmly and slowly.

* * *

 

Giacometti-sensei purchased two bottles from the vending machine and walked the 4 meters back to the park bench where he’d left a barely conscious Katsuki Yuuri. The boy was half laying on his side, eyes closed, head propped up by his school bag, with Giacometti-sensei’s jacket loosely draped over him. Some colour had returned to his cheeks.

“Here’s your warm tea. I still think you should have an electrolyte drink instead, though…”, the teacher said, giving the bottle to the boy. Instead of drinking it, Yuuri took it to his cheek and closed his eyes again.

The teacher chuckled. And sat down on the bench beside the boy.

A quarter of hour went by, the sounds of the birds singing, the water falling in a nearby fountain, the occasional car or bus passing by in the distance, the faded sound of children laughing…

“Do you get motion sickness often?”, Giacometti-sensei asked innocently, faking ignorance about the true nature of Yuuri’s problem.

The boy opened his eyes as if someone had slapped him, but he didn’t look up.

“No. I…”, he began hoarsely, then cleared his voice, “I was fine with it before. But I felt sick once when I was on a train heading towards an entrance exam… My dog had just died; my best friend was gone and I wasn’t eating well… And, after that, I always get sick when I ride trains.”, he paused and his eyes slid to the yellow bicycle parked nearby, “When doing other stuff too, occasionally.”, he added miserably and closed his eyes again, “And I failed the entrance exams of all my preferred schools…”, he almost whispered.

 _I knew it. I knew there was something fishy about this story_., Giacometti-sensei thought, for the first time in his life with no real satisfaction to being proven right about something.

There was a long pause.

“My parents… they weren’t disappointed in me. Just worried. They couldn’t bear seeing me like that, so they eventually convinced me to apply to Hasetsu High School instead. I didn’t have to ride a train to get there.”, he gave a shaky sigh, “I got separated from all my school friends, along with the best and oldest friend I’d already lost… our… my dreams… It felt like I was giving up on everything. I was just… very disappointed in myself.”, he paused and sniffled pitifully, “Also, I miss my dog. I miss him so much.”

Despite Yuuri’s struggle to wipe them away, fat, deeply heartfelt tears were now falling onto the bench’s painted wood. He was shaking again.

On a whim, Giacometti-sensei grabbed the boy’s chest and pulled, making him slide on the bench, depositing the boy’s head onto his lap. Yuuri tensed up and immediately stopped crying.

“S-sensei?”

“There, there.”, Giacometti-sensei shushed him, gently patting the boy’s shoulder.

“O-okay.”, was Yuuri’s perplexed reply. But, as the teacher kept gently patting his shoulder, his tired body gave in again and soon he let himself be comforted by the barely familiar man.

Soon, he was being lulled to sleep by the calming rhythm.

Without interrupting his patting, Giacometti-sensei momentarily leaned a little to his side to take his phone out of his pocket and check the time. The movement jostled Yuuri a bit and he opened his eyes slightly.

“Giacometti-sensei, right?”, he asked groggily, “What do you teach at school?”

“Yes. Music.”

“Music?”

“People usually say I look more like an Art teacher.”, he chuckled.

Yuuri’s lips formed a little smile and he closed his eyes again.

“That’s not true…”, he said in a soft whisper, like he didn’t even notice he was talking aloud, “The rhythm of you patting me… it feels… nice…”, and he passed out.

Sitting on the park bench, the warm weight of Katsuki Yuuri’s head on his lap, under the shadow of the trees, surrounded by the happy chirping of birds and the calming sound of water falling, Christophe Giacometti kept patting his unconscious student’s shoulder. He was blushing to the roots of his hair and desperately trying to remember himself that the beautiful, cute sleeping boy was his underage student.

 _If anything, I must wait until he graduates_., he decided.

* * *

 

**_Back to the present…_ **

Giacometti-sensei brusquely slid the classroom door completely open to find Katsuki Yuuri and Victor Nikiforov connected at the mouth. They immediately jumped apart, looking shocked (both of them) and embarrassed (only Yuuri). A chair fell with a loud bang.

“Hey you, club-less students!”, Giacometti-sensei all but shouted, “School is over. Go home already!”

“We’re leaving!”, Victor cheerfully replied.

Yuuri hurriedly bent down to put the chair back in its place, while Victor grabbed both their school bags. In a second, they were both leaving the classroom and Giacometti-sensei behind. Giacometti-sensei stayed put by the door, watching them go down the corridor. Victor threw an arm over Yuuri’s shoulder and playfully pecked his neck. Giacometti-sensei sighed and shook his head, then resumed his walk down the corridor.

His little crush on Katsuki Yuuri might have given him a slightly cracked heart and a factually broken nose, but those two boys had definitely put a smile on his face.

As a gay man, no, scratch that, as a human being, he was happy for them.

 

**[Intermission II – End]**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you were wondering, Giacometti-sensei didn’t see Yuri at the opening ceremony because Yuri’s minute height didn’t allow Giacometti-sensei to take a good look at him from where he stood in the teachers’ line. Otherwise, I bet he would have thought he was cute too.  
> Okay then, back to the main plot with a new and longer chapter on Sunday!


	6. [A complex fool and a simplex fool]

It was the end of another long school day. Victor and Yuri were changing their shoes by the lockers, surrounded by noisy students.

Victor was looking at the flyers that Yuri had just handed to him. They were printed in a simple, yet eye-catching design where black and red colours dominated. The header read  _Hasetsu Super Rock_ , in boldly stylized lettering. Under that, various local pop rock and rock band names followed, each with a small description. Grand Prix was there, right at the top. Victor tried not to snicker at the description:

 

**_Grand Prix_ **

**_»» Last Live Performance ««_ **

_The rock band that was brought into existence by 4 talented middle-schoolers just a few years back and that rapidly became one of the more popular and successful rock bands in Hasetsu, will say its last goodbyes at this event._

_JJ (vocals), Victor (guitar & vocals), Yuri (bass guitar) and Beka (drums) are sure to make this sad disbanding one of their most memorable performances ever, so don’t miss out!_

 

“ _Beka_.”, Victor couldn’t help it, he laughed, “Man, Otabek will be pissed. Who wrote this?”

“Who do you think? Mila.”, Yuri huffily replied.

Victor guffawed. Mila Babicheva had made herself into Grand Prix’s promoter and public relations right at the beginning. JJ’s parents, their agents, sponsors and executive producers, didn’t need much coaxing on her part to allow it. Deep down, the band knew that much of their popularity had been due to her excellent publicity handling.

Mila also happened to be Yuri’s cousin and he loved her like a sister-

“Yeah, well. That filthy hag has it coming.”, Yuri declared ominously over Victor’s dying guffaws.

-or so Victor liked to believe, anyway.

“That is your batch of flyers. I’m heading home. ‘Later”, Yuri said, turning his back on Victor and walking away, not without before throwing a, “Bye, Katsudon. Kinda shitty hiding place, by the way.”, over his shoulder and shaking his head in pitying reproach.

“B-bye.”, came Yuuri’s awkward reply from where he was coming out of his hiding place behind the lockers. He was beet red.

Victor jumped in surprise at seeing him there, he hadn’t noticed his arrival. How long had he been hiding there?

“Where you hiding from Yuri?”, he asked, incredulous, “I thought you two got along last time…”, he sounded disappointed.

“N-no, I wasn’t? Yes, sure we did…!”, Yuuri replied with no real conviction.

On Victor’s insistence, they’d shared a few dinners together, the three of them, after both Grand Prix rehearsals and prep school lessons. The first time, Victor got the feeling that Yuri had somehow managed to frighten Yuuri in the restaurant restroom; he could only imagine how, because Yuri always faked ignorance about the matter and Yuuri vehemently refused to tell him about it. But, the last couple times – at the Katsuki’s restaurant, because Victor figured Yuri would feel less at ease in “enemy’s territory” – had gone well, in Victor’s opinion, despite Yuri’s peculiar style of social of interaction. He honestly believed they’d become friends, almost! But he was wrong, apparently.

“Is that so?”, Victor flashed him a solidary smile.

Yuuri nodded and nervously stared at the ground.

* * *

 

**_About a week ago…_ **

“Plisetsky-kun! Nice to see you again. Is it today that you’re going to give our onsen a try?”, Katsuki Hiroko asked when she came to take their order, “It’ll be on the house, of course!”

“Not today either, Katsuki-san.”, Yuri neutrally replied.

“But soon, for sure!”, Victor enthusiastically declared, “One day we’ll come with more time so that we can do that, right, Yurochka?”

Yuri shrugged, invulnerable to Victor’s enthusiasm and perused the menu, but soon set it down, easily making up his mind.

“I’m gonna go with the katsudon again.”, he decided. It turns out that Yuri was a Katsuki’s katsudon fan as well.

“Three katsudons for this table, then!”, Hiroko cheerfully declared when she saw Yuuri coming in through the restaurant door, “Yuuri, welcome back!”

After band rehearsal that night, Yuri and Victor had rode over on Yuri’s bike and they had been sitting at this table, waiting for Yuuri’s arrival from prep school.

“Hello.”, Yuuri greeted, sitting down to Victor’s left. Yuri was sitting in front of him.

“Hiiii.”, Victor replied with a warm smile.

Yuri rolled his eyes at him, then politely nodded to Yuuri.

“Hello. Won’t you change out of your uniform before dinner?”

“Er… no it’s okay. I’m starving.”, Yuuri replied with a tense, but polite smile.

“You practically live in that uniform.”, Yuri said reproachfully.

Yuuri laughed nervously. Victor put his hand on Yuuri’s right knee and squeezed. Yuuri looked down at his plate, smiling and blushing slightly.

Yuri released a bored sigh.

“Hey, Katsuki. Do you drink?”, he asked brusquely.

“No, I…”

“You see, Yurochka, he can’t. Because, when Katsuki drinks, he gets really erotic.”, Victor declared seriously.

“Wha-?”, Yuuri whispered, shocked. Victor had never seen him drink. Because Yuuri had never drank alcohol in his life.

“He does?”, Yuri asked, one eyebrow raised, looking from Victor to Yuuri, suspicious.

Victor started laughing. Yuri pouted. Yuuri smiled timidly.

Victor’s guffaws subsided and he looked at Yuuri’s hair, “Oh, you have a…”, he said, raising a hand to take a little tree leaf from between Yuuri’s dark hair strands.

Yuri gagged, “Stop acting like such a couple…!”, he whined.

Victor looked at Yuuri and smiled. Yuuri smiled back.

“Well, we  _are_  a couple.”, Victor declared simply.

Yuuri blushed and cleared his throat awkwardly, raising to his feet.

“Restroom.”, he explained before leaving.

“He’s nervous.”, Yuri sagely observed when Yuuri was at a safe distance.

“I wonder why that is.”, Victor accused.

* * *

 

Yuuri was washing his hands and distractedly staring at himself in the mirror. He looked tired…

Suddenly, a grey wisp of hair popped up in the corner of the reflexion. Yuuri jumped slightly in place. Victor was staring at him.

“W-what?”, Yuuri asked nervously while drying his hands in the paper towel.

“Nothing, nothing.”, Victor replied, finally moving from his hovering position at the doorway and walking past Yuuri towards one of the urinals, but not without stopping to lay a light kiss at the base of Yuuri’s neck first.

Yuuri jumped in place again, blushing intensely.

* * *

 

Yuri looked up when he saw Yuuri approaching.

“The katsudons have arrived.”, he declared, then looked down at his own bowl, clearly itching to start eating, “Your neck…”, he said, as an afterthought.

Yuuri tensed up, taking one hand to the back of his neck, where Victor had just kissed him.

“… your shirt collar is crooked.”, Yuri finished innocently.

Yuuri almost sighed in relief, righting his collar and sitting down.

A short uncomfortable silence followed.

“So, Plisetsky-kun, is your home nearby?”, Yuuri tentatively broke the silence.

“I have to pass through this area to get there.”, Yuri replied evasively, shrugging.

“Ah, that’s… convenient. And do you-”

“So, Katsuki, do you eat katsudon often?”, Yuri interrupted brusquely.

“Yes. It’s my favourite-”

“Is it? If you had to give up on one thing, Victor or katsudon, which one would you dump?”, he asked with an impish gleam to his green eyes.

“W-what??”, Yuuri asked confused.

“You hesitated.”, Yuri declared triumphantly, like it proved something.

Yuuri just stared dumbly at him, confused.

“Wha-”

“What are you two talking about?”, Victor asked, returning from the restroom.

* * *

 

And that was how Yuri Plisetsky had started calling him “Katsudon”.

* * *

 

**_Back to the present…_ **

Victor thought Yuuri and Yuri had stopped avoiding each other, but the truth was that he could no longer know for sure. They’d become third-years and had been split into different classes.

It had seemed like Yuri Plisetsky was doomed to be his classmate forever, from the nursery to the grave. But, as it turns out, they’d finally been separated. Yuri stayed in the same class as Yuuri and Victor had been taken away into a different class.

Which meant that his best friend and his boyfriend had been spending more time with each other than with him (well, sitting near each other in the same classroom, anyway). Hence why he wanted them to become friends so badly, also why he was trying to meet with both simultaneously every time he possibly could.

Things were different and they were still changing. Now Victor and Yuuri only ever saw each other during lunch break and at the end of the day, like now, or, very seldom, on weekends.

They were walking side by side, taking the familiar roads to Yuuri’s prep school.

“Disbanding?”

“Yeah. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“It is for the fans, at least…”, Yuuri murmured pensively, “Why are you ending it? Because of the exams?”

“You could say that. JJ and Otabek go to different schools and it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to gather everyone together for rehearsals and live performances, with everyone studying for exams and all. Also, JJ is applying for a college that is very far away. Which is kind of ironic, because he’s basically the reason why the band was created in the first place.”, Victor chuckled, “It’s a matter of time, now. The Grand Prix will be… no more!”, he declared dramatically and threw a silly smile at Yuuri. Yuuri smiled back, but it was a short-lived smile.

“Nikiforov, I’ve been meaning to ask.”, Yuuri started seriously, “What are you planning to-”

“Good afternoon.”, Victor interrupted him, greeting the customary fisherman on the bridge that crossed over the mouth of Matsuura River to Hasetsu Castle.

“Good afternoon.”, the man greeted them with a kind smile and a little wave, pulling on his fishing rod.

“Ah, that’s right! Do you want to come?”, Victor excitedly asked.

“Huh?”

“To the concert. I never properly invited you before. That time at your parents’ restaurant, that was the only time you watched a Grand Prix performance, right?”

Yuuri nodded, blushing for some reason.

“This is our last show, you must come!”, Victor pleaded, eagerly, “Here.”, he said, giving Yuuri one of the flyers.

They’d come to a stop under a small train bridge. Yuuri stared at the flyer.

“I can’t make it.”, he sadly declared, “It’s on a Friday… I have prep school…”

“Oh, that’s okay. This is an all-nighter.”

“All-nighter?”

“Yeah, see, it’ll end at around 5 in the morning.”, Victor leaned a bit nearer Yuuri to point at the schedule on the flyer in the other boy’s hands, “Grand Prix play at around 1 o’clock, so you’ve got plenty of time if you come after prep school…”

“Hm-hm, I could have dinner at prep school, this isn’t far from there…”

“Yes, it is near, you could walk there from prep school…”, Victor agreed, rising both hands to lightly touch Yuuri’s jawline, right under his ears, gently lifting his face. Their foreheads brushed before their lips connected. The train loudly crossed the bridge above them, but they didn’t break apart. It was a sweet chaste kiss, an affectionate touching of lips, but they were both blushing when they broke apart.

“Will you come?”, Victor purred seductively.

“Yes.”

They walked together side by side all the way to the prep school.

“Later.”

“See you.”

As Victor watched Yuuri entering through the glass doors, he wondered sadly how many more times they’d be able to do this. To do it like this, at least. They were third-years already, soon they’d be examinees, then graduates and then… college students? Something else? Victor didn’t know, he didn’t want to face that future yet.

* * *

 

Finally, his long day was over. How he craved for the weekend. Phichit was coming over for the first weekend in months. He’d been coming to Hasetsu increasingly more rarely now. But Yuuri couldn’t really blame him, it was a long, exhausting and expensive trip and he too had to study a lot if their plan was to become a reality.

And what about Victor? The plan he’d been building with Phichit since elementary school didn’t take Victor into consideration. Guilt and a feeling of impending doom threatened to grab at his chest. He stepped on them.

There was still time, they were still going to talk about it. And, if Victor kept avoiding his questions, it would probably just mean that he was not including Yuuri in  _his_  plans. And that… somehow… felt even worst.

“Katsuki-kun?”, one of the prep school teachers called him in the corridor. Okukawa Minako. He stopped, turning to look at her and politely greeted her. Minako-sensei was one of his favourite teachers there.

“I know it’s sudden, but have your parents already consented to your college of choice?”, she sounded worried.

“Ah, yes. My grandfather went to that university. Also, a friend of mine will be applying for it, too and we plan to share a place.”

“Ah, that’s great.”, said the teacher, looking relieved, “This can be difficult to some families, the fact that you’ll have to leave home, find a place to live on your own or perhaps find people to share a place with… But, with a family member that went to the same university and a friend to live with, it’ll all be easier!”, she finished, sounding excited.

“Yes…”, replied Yuuri, trying and failing to sound as excited as she did.

* * *

 

After a little trial and error, Yuuri finally arrived at the concert venue. It was in the underground floor of a big building, both a few stairs and an elevator leading him to… a door. A shiny, red, closed door, docked into a thick black frame. On the door, in the same lettering of the flyer Victor had given him, could be read  _Hasetsu Super Rock_. Muffled voices and music could vaguely be heard from the outside.

After a little self-persuasion, Yuuri slowly pulled the door open, only to be attacked by extremely potent sound waves coming from the inside. He literally felt his whole body shaking to the strong music and screams. For a few seconds, he just stood by the door, stunned, staring at the sea of bodies in the big, poorly lit, red-walled room and the stage pulsing with multi-coloured lights by the far wall in front of him. He felt extremely out of place and immediately started regretting his choice of coming.

“Hi! Reception is over here!”, a sharp female voice called from his right, screaming to be heard above all the noise. Yuuri turned to see a petite girl sitting at a big desk, surrounded by a laptop, multiple colourful flyers, tickets, stickers, fluorescent bracelets, pens and stamps, a couple pretty alcohol bottles, a cash register and a multitude of other colourful and fluorescent objects that Yuuri didn’t care to identify.

“Good evening. Who did you come for?”, she asked in a surprisingly nice and calm tone of voice.

Yuuri hesitated a little, fascinated by her shiny, wholly black eyeballs. Cosmetic contacts?

“Er, Grand Prix.”

“Grand Prix! Great! The ticket is 2500 yen. With this stamp…”, she grabbed his right hand and stamped him with the event’s logo, “… you can get in and out freely. And here…”, she seemed to shortly evaluate the authenticity of the high school uniform he was still wearing and school bag he was still carrying and then gave him a little white square card, “… here is you free drink ticket. Have fun!”

Yuuri payed up and walked away slowly, staring at the stamp on the back of his right hand. It was shining a greenish sort of white under the lights. He eventually came to a stop by the bar area, trying to make himself enjoy the music of the band that was currently on stage. He failed.

“What do you want?”, the bartender, a tall young man with dreadlocks asked him.

Yuuri looked at the various bottles on the shelves behind the guy, not knowing what to say. He was about to ask him if they had soda, when another boy approached the bar.

“Beer.”, he said loud and clear right at the moment when the bartender was looking the other way, at the stage.

“Beer it is!”, the bartender exclaimed, filling a huge paper cup to the brim with pressurized beer and pushing it against Yuuri’s hands. Yuuri awkwardly took the beer and walked away, listening to the bartender talking to his next costumer behind him.

“And you, what’s it gonna be?”

“I just said I wanted a beer…”

Yuuri experimentally took a sip of his beer. It was bitter.  _Do people honestly enjoy this taste?? Weird_.

“Yuuuuuri!!!”, a familiar female voice shouted.

Yuuri almost dropped his beer. There, right in front of him, were the Nishigori triplets, dressed in mostly black tones, wearing some fluorescent necklaces and bracelets, flashy make-up and pretty badass hair styles, looking hyper.

“H-hi…”, he awkwardly greeted them, raising his cup a bit.

“You came to see Grand Prix too?”, Loop asked with a huge smile, “I thought you were super busy studying…”, she added, suddenly looking guilty.

“We came with some friends…”, Lutz informed, pointing at three other girls a couple meters behind her, “But you could’ve told us!!”, she sounded regretful, even a little hurt.

“Can you believe they’re disbanding? It’s so sad.”, Axel sniffed. Her mascara was smudged. She’d probably been crying before, “It feels like it was just last week that we first watched their show, at your parents’… Why would they…”, she released a sad sob. Loop comfortingly patted her sister’s shoulder.

Yuuri felt even more awkward.

“Y-yeah. Nikiforov told me about it…”

“Victor did?”, Lutz sounded positively surprised, almost proud.

Yuuri frowned.

“You’re so lucky, being friends with him. He must be so cool…!”, Axel said dreamily, tear-stained face lighting up with a smile.

 _If they only knew just how friendly we are…_ , Yuuri shivered at the thought.

“Y-yeah. He’s…”, he took another sip of his beer, stalling to try to figure out how to finish that sentence and was once again reminded of just how nasty the drink tasted, “Yes.”, he agreed simply.

Loop seemed to be considering him.

“I heard they’re disbanding because their vocalist is quitting, is that true?”, she pried.

Yuuri opened his mouth to reply.

“I heard they had a fight… Is… is that true?”, Axel pressed.

The three girls set three equally unrelenting stares on him. The brash band currently on stage was saying its goodbyes. According to the schedule, Grand Prix were up next.

“I… I don’t know if they had a fight…”, Yuuri started awkwardly, “I think it’s more of a… geographic incompatibility… And there’s exam season soon, too…”

“So, the vocalist isn’t quitting, but the disbanding is mostly because of him, right?”, Lutz brightly concluded, pocking Yuuri when he didn’t immediately reply.

Yuuri hesitated, then nodded nervously, taking another sip of his beer. Somehow, the taste didn’t improve no matter how many times he drank it.

Loop shrugged, apparently unfazed, “But JJ isn’t really…”, she said with a rather… naughty smile. There seemed to be an implicit meaning to the fact that she voluntarily didn’t finish her sentence.

“Yes.”, Lutz easily agreed, clearly getting the meaning of her sister’s vague declaration.

“JJ isn’t really what?”, Yuuri asked more brusquely than he’d intended, then caught himself and blushed, embarrassed. Perhaps the alcohol was getting to him already.

The triplets shared a peculiar look between them.

“Er… it’s kind of weird saying it in front of you, being that you are his schoolmate and all…”, Axel started awkwardly, “And also, being that you are a dude…”

The other two girls started giggling.

“Aw, come on, Yuuri, even you can see it!”, Lutz said, good-humouredly, “Victor is like…”

Yuuri frowned.

“… totally fine.”

Yuuri’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. He tensely adjusted the glasses on his nose.

“Yes! He’s soooo hot…”, Loop and Axel agreed in synchrony and with matching dreamy sighs.

Yuuri downed half his beer in one go.

* * *

 

Soon, Grand Prix were on stage and the triplets moved a little nearer them, to where the other girls were already screeching to the band’s first notes.

Either the band hadn’t created much during these past few years or they were proposedly playing their old songs that night, because Yuuri could recognized most of the melodies from that long past concert at his parents’ restaurant.

They were good, Yuuri remembered that as well, really good. Almost too good for a local teenage band. But, much like what had happened all those years ago, Yuuri could only focus on one thing during the whole performance. Victor Nikiforov.

 _He never fails to surprise me._ _Ever since I first saw him playing the guitar at my family’s restaurant_ …, he thought, mesmerized.

Under the stage lights, Victor’s hair shone like fine strands of the purest, softest silver, his half-lidded eyes looked deeper, more mysterious and, when he looked up from his guitar to sing alongside JJ or to sensually smile at the audience, he made them vibrate. He didn’t stay put for long, slender body always moving deftly across the stage with sure, elegant strides, often leaning and half-keeling beside his bandmates, his movements harmonious, never missing a note, dexterously pulling the notes from his strings like they were a part of himself…

 _D-damn, he’s so hot…!_ , Yuuri thought, loosening his uniform tie, eyes glued to the stage,  _Enough to make even me, a man, pregnant!_

For a moment, Victor seemed to lock eyes with him and wink mischievously. Yuuri wasn’t 100% sure of this, because he knew Victor probably couldn’t see anyone clearly with all those strong lights pointing straight at his face. Still, the fans around him bellowed in excitement, a few loud dreamy sighs were heard.

 _Victor is like… totally fine_.

Feeling his face, his whole body, heating up, Yuuri couldn’t agree more.

* * *

 

At the end, some of the fans were crying. Yuuri was feeling all hot and flustered, wishing he could strip of most of his uncomfortable uniform, maybe hug Victor and feel his chest, his waist, kiss his lips…

He gave a little giggle. That would be nice. He’d have to find him first, though. Yuuri started to look around himself. Where…

“Geez, show some courage, Mikipon!”, Lutz exclaimed from close by. She was talking to one of the three friends the triplets had been with before, a red-headed long-haired thin young woman, “This was their last show ever…! I’m not saying you confess to him! Just chat him up, for memories!”

“But I’ve never even spoken to him before…! It’ll sound so weird…”

“Well, we have!”, Loop helpfully contributed, “We can go with you and introduce you to him.”

“Yeah, or…”, Lutz’s gaze fell on Yuuri. He froze.

“… our friend Yuuri over there is Victor’s friend. They go to the same school.”, she came over to Yuuri, all the other girls following, “Right, Yuuri? You can do that, can’t you?”

Yuuri frowned.

“Do… what?”, he drawled, confused.

“Are you friends with Victor-san, Yuuri-san?”, the girl, Mikipon, timidly asked.

Yuuri frowned again.

“I’m… I’m not really…”, Yuuri was having trouble with his words. Correctly moving his tongue didn’t feel like such a simple job anymore.

He’d had a single tuna onigiri for dinner, from the vending machine at the prep school. Somehow that fact became hilarious to him and he started laughing.

Mikipon was still expecting a reply from him, though. He tried to pull himself together.

“We’re… we are not really… we are not friends… not like that, you know? We’re more like b-”

“Ah!”, Loop interrupted suddenly, gently grabbing and Yuuri’s bicep, “It seems our friend won’t be able to help, after all. Don’t worry, Mikipon, Lutz and Axel will go to the backstage with you, okay? I’ll go see if our friend here drinks some water. Go on ahead!”

All the girls left, except for Loop, who was fixing Yuuri with a deep look.

“Yuuri, are you and…”, she began in a gentle tone, then hesitated, changed course, “… are you… okay?”

“Yes, perfect!”, he immediately replied, then leaned in a bit, closer to the girl’s face, lowering his voice in confidence, “I think I might be a little drunk, though.”, he chortled.

“Yes, maybe a little.”, she said affectionately, giving his bicep a gentle squeeze, then releasing him, “Perhaps you should put that down and drink this instead…”, she said gesturing towards the beer cup still on Yuuri’s hand and rummaging through her tiny backpack for her unopened water bottle.

“Thank you.”, Yuuri politely said, taking Loop’s bottle in his left hand, “Aren’t you going with your friends?”

Loop looked towards the direction her friends had taken a few seconds before, conflicted.

“I’d like to. It’s the last time Grand Prix performed as a band and I’m their fan, I’d love to see…”, she hesitated, “Will you be okay alone for a few minutes?”

“I am okay.”, Yuuri said seriously. Then giggled a little.

“Right…”, Loop bit her lower lip, then looked Yuuri in the eye, “Stay put, okay? Don’t leave here. We’ll be right back. Mom is coming to get us, you’ll come along and we’ll drop you at your place, okay?”

“Okay.”, Yuuri agreed.

“Okay. See you in five, then!”, Loop said with a smile, turning to follow her friends. Follow her friends to the backstage. So they could go talk with the band. With Victor.

Oh, by the way, Victor had told him to go meet him after the concert. Perhaps he should go to the backstage too.

* * *

 

“Nice to meet you, V-victor-san.”, Mikipon was timidly saying after Lutz’s short introduction, “I’ve always… I’ve been to every Grand Prix performance, I’m a b-big fan. And…”

Yuuri frowned, then wondered why he was hiding. He’d followed Loop to the backstage without her noticing it. On reaching a half-closed door that read “Staff Only”, instead of coming inside or showing himself, he’d leaned against the wall beside the doorframe, hiding and listening. He didn’t know why, but there was a strange knot in his throat.

“… and… well… V-victor-san, do you… do you have a g-girlfriend?”

The knot in Yuuri’s throat tightened uncomfortably.

“Girlfriend?”, Victor asked neutrally. A boy chuckled in the back. Yuri, perhaps?

“Ah, no, I’m sorry! That’s… Never mind that!”, Mikipon sounded embarrassed, “What… what I meant to ask was… Er… could we please… exchange e-mails? If… if it’s okay?”

The knot tightened painfully.

_No. What… what is this… This feeling…_

Yuuri limply slid down the wall and to the floor, clutching viciously at Loop’s unopened water bottle.

“Oh, but… but I… I won’t send strange messages or anything…”, Mikipon kept going, her nervous meowing tone of voice pulling on Yuuri’s tight knot.

It hurt, he couldn’t breathe.

_No. Please stop it… stop it…_

“That’s not what I meant… I mean, if it’s a hassle…”, she sounded very embarrassed.

Victor laughed, good-humouredly.

“Sure.”, he easily consented.

Yuuri’s chest went cold.

He finished his beer in one go, got to his feet and walked away.

* * *

 

The girls said their goodbyes and left, the last one, one of the triplets – Loop, was it? –, carefully closing the door behind herself after waving Victor an enthusiastic goodbye.

“Aren’t you popular with the ladies…”, JJ teased Victor before the door was even completely closed.

Victor released a short, humourless laugh.

“Did he come? Your…”, Otabek asked in a deep, serious tone from his place on the big armchair. Interestingly, he lifted one hand and vaguely gestured towards Yuri.

“My… what? My angry kitten?”, Victor joked.

“Huh?”, JJ asked, completely clueless, while Yuri growled menacingly and threw a leopard printed sneaker at Victor’s head. Victor dodged it just in time.

“Yes, well…”, Victor said, unperturbed, “I’m going to step out for a bit.”

“Katsudon?”, Yuri asked, sounding bored.

“Yeah.”, Victor replied, walking towards the door.

“What??”, JJ asked, more clueless than ever.

And that’s when the door suddenly opened and Loop came back inside, holding a water bottle in one hand and looking distressed.

“I’m… I’m sorry. Did… did you see Yuuri?”, she urgently asked between gasps for breath. The sound of more steps running down the corridor that led to that room could be heard and then the other two sisters showed up behind Loop, looking alarmed.

“He’s not inside, we looked everywhere.”, one of them – Lutz? – informed.

Victor’s heart fell.

“We haven’t seen him.”, he replied, voice shaking slightly, “What happened?”

“He… he wasn’t so sober and I… I left him alone…”, Loop started, looking like she was about to cry, “I told him to stay put and wait for our mother’s ride. But, when we came back, he wasn’t where I left him. And, when I came looking for him in this area, the water bottle that I gave to him before was out here, just beside this door.”

“He was out there but left without coming in?”, Yuri asked, looking doubtful.

“Looks like it.”

“How do you know that’s the same bottle?”, Otabek asked.

“Huh? Oh. My sisters and I always get a water bottle each in these events. Usually, one of us goes to get all three and writes our name in each.”, she raised her bottle and turned it, so  _Loop-nee_  could be read, scribbled on the bottle’s label.

“Who’s Yuuri?”, JJ timidly asked. Otabek signalled him to come closer and whispered a short explanation. JJ then stared at Victor, surprise written all over his face.

“Have you tried calling his phone?”, Yuri asked, deadpan.

“Yes. He’s not picking up…”, Loop miserably replied.

“How long has it been?”, Yuri asked, maintaining the same bored tone of voice, “If he wasn’t so sober, as you say, then he wouldn’t have walked far. Let’s split and search around the building. First one to find him sends an e-mail to everyone.”

* * *

 

Laying on his back on the sandbox of a nearby children’s park, schoolbag sitting maybe a meter away from him, Yuuri was looking at the stars. Abundant, fat tears were rolling sideways on his alcohol-coloured cheeks, rolling down into his hair and ears, fogging his glasses. He sniffed pitifully.

There was a repetitive noise in the background, like a bicycle’s bell. It would persist for a few minutes, then die out, then return a few minutes later. It suddenly occurred to Yuuri that his phone’s ringtone sounded a lot like that. He stretched on the sand to try and get to his bag and his phone. Indeed, his phone was ringing. He tried to read the caller ID, but, either because of his inebriated state or his foggy glasses or both, the letters on the screen were elusive to him, so he gave up on that and took the call.

“Hello-”, he drawled into the device.

“Katsuki! Where are you?”, Victor’s voice screamed urgently against his ear. Despite the pain that hearing this voice triggered in Yuuri’s chest, he felt the urge to eliminate Victor’s distress, so he looked around himself, trying to figure out his whereabouts.

“On a sandbox… in a park…”, he replied.

Victor disconnected. Yuuri lowered his phone, holding it almost reverently against his chest, feeling sleepy and a bit confused.

Suddenly he heard an increasingly louder noise, someone running, coming closer and closer. Feeling like he was about to get squished under some crazy night jogger’s running shoes, Yuuri tried to sit up only to be violently thrown back down by a young man. A grey-haired young man, who smelled like familiar body wash and sweat and was hugging him hard, face squished against his neck.

Yuuri pulled one hand free of the hug to lightly smack Victor’s head a couple times.

“Let go of me.”, he feebly demanded.

“No.”, Victor replied, moving his arms against Yuuri’s back, hugging him tighter.

“Let go!”, he repeated, stronger this time.

Victor changed his grip on Yuuri, grabbing at his neck, pulling him into a kiss. Yuuri resisted at first, refusing to yield to the kiss, leaning his upper body back, trying to get some distance between them. Victor followed him, fitting both his legs under Yuuri’s thighs, forcing them to sit face to face, chests touching. Soon, they were kissing open-mouthed, Yuuri melting in his embrace. Victor broke the kiss so they could both take a breath.

“Was I cool onstage?”, he purred seductively.

A flash of pain crossed Yuuri’s eyes. He looked away.

“Aren’t you a popular one,  _Victor-san_?”, he asked, sounding hurt. Also, drunk.

Victor considered him carefully. He raised a hand to affectionately caress Yuuri’s cheek.

“No  _-san_ , please. Victor is enough.”, he almost whispered, “May I call you Yuuri?”

Yuuri closed his eyes and shivered, but turned his face further away, trying to escape Victor’s caress.

“Is it fun being with me?”, Yuuri said to the sand, “Going through all the trouble… of making yourself hang out with someone who’s gloomy… and nerdy… and unstylish… and a guy…”

“Yuuri.”, Victor shortly relished in the pleasure of calling that name while gently pulling Yuuri’s chin upwards, trying to make the other boy look at him, “I’ll get mad.”, he said in a falsely reproachful tone.

Yuuri stared at him wide-eyed, looking honestly scared, close to tears, even.

“No, I lied. I lied!”, Victor said urgently, grabbing at Yuuri’s shoulders; Victor wasn’t good with people crying in front of him, he never knew what to do, “I won’t get angry, really! I won’t, but…”

There was a pause during which Victor let go of his grip on Yuuri’s shoulders, hands sliding down the other’s arms slightly. Yuuri was still looking at him wide-eyed. He was so beautiful, in every way. Victor loved him so much. How could he still be nursing such doubts about himself, about their relationship?

“Ahhhh!”, Victor half-shouted, pulling Yuuri into another crushing hug.

“V-Victor?”, Yuuri stammered weakly against his shoulder.

Victor was so happy to hear him say his name, he almost felt like crying. Instead, he dropped a fond kiss on Yuuri’s neck and perseverated on what he wanted to say, on what Yuuri needed to hear. He didn’t know exactly how to say it, though.

“Ahhhh… I don’t get it, Yuuri!”, Victor hugged him tighter against his chest, “Why are you saying such stupid things?”, he fitted his chin over Yuuri’s shoulder, “When Loop told us you’d left on your own, I was so worried. You left without even talking to me… And you weren’t picking up your phone… I thought something terrible had happened.”, Victor took a breath and weakened his grip on the other boy so that he could look at Yuuri in the eyes, “Why do you always assume the worst in everything before it happens? Why do you come up with all these negative thoughts all by yourself?”

He didn’t actually expect an answer from Yuuri, but the boy was looking seriously at him, sincere eyes filled with resolve, clearly thinking about the best reply to Victor’s inquiries.

“Well, that’s probably because…”, he hesitated, looked downwards, “… I lack confidence.”, he finished timidly.

“Right.”, Victor fondly said, again grabbing Yuuri’s chin and tenderly coaxing him to look back up, “And my job as your boyfriend is also to help you feel more confident in yourself.”, he declared with a smile, then gently slid his thumb over Yuuri’s lower lip, “My number one.”, he sensually declared, the streetlamp closer to them casting his face in a mesmerizing play of light and shadow, “Yuuri, you are my number one.”

For a second they just stared at each other in silence, Yuuri’s face slowly lighting up with a big silly smile.

“Are you serious?”, he asked ecstatic, a few notes above his normal tone of voice, then enthusiastically pulled Victor to a hug, “You… you popular guy!”, he giggled against Victor’s ear.

 _He’s so cute. And so drunk_., Victor thought, hugging him back and leaving another affectionate peck on Yuuri’s shoulder. Then, his hands travelled south on his lover’s back, pushing Yuuri’s uniform jacket away, untucking his shirt and touching smooth, warm skin.

Yuuri immediately tensed against him.

“V-Victor? Somehow, your hands are moving on my back…?”, he awkwardly inquired.

Victor smiled at hearing Yuuri calling him by his first name. It felt right and wonderful, it just made him so happy…

“Yes. It’s a punishment.”, Victor replied matter-of-factly.

“Huh?”, Yuuri sounded worried.

“Just the back, nothing more.”, Victor reassured him.

He found Yuuri’s spine and started tracking it upwards with his fingertips.

“Your spine, it stands out nicely.”, she whispered seductively into Yuuri’s ear, “One… two… three…”

Yuuri shivered against him, gasped as Victor’s cold fingers made their way up his back.

“V-”

“The scapulae.”, Victor continued his description undisturbed, both hands caressing Yuuri’s shoulder blades. Yuuri released a little sigh against his neck. Victor smiled, “The scapulae are what’s left of our wings…”

“Eh?”, Yuuri asked, mellow.

“… a novel I read once said that.”

“Mm…”, another little sigh.

Victor’s hands travelled slowly up and down Yuuri’s back, making Yuuri tense up again.

“Victor, it… it t-”, he stammered between two soft whimpers.

“It tickles?”, Victor enticingly crooned against his shoulder. Yuuri nodded affirmatively.

Looking positively mischievous, Victor slowly moved one hand between Yuuri’s shoulder blades and the other one sideways and to the front, “I see… it tickles.”, he said, a curious thumb sliding under Yuuri’s armpit, following a rib to the front, “Does it just tickle and nothing else…?”

“Ah!”, Yuuri moaned sweetly, his body rocking against Victor’s once. Victor chuckled, huge silly smile taking over his beautiful smug features.  _Mission accomplished_.

“No!”, Yuuri exclaimed embarrassed, pushing Victor slightly away, so that he could awkwardly look at him, “No, no, no!”, he said, looking flustered, “That’s not like that, I… I… I just-”

“It’s recorded.”, Victor declared smugly, huge silly grin till firmly on his face, “Recorded in my heart, so that I can replay it whenever I want.”

“No, but…”, Yuuri tried, looking red as a tomato.

“ _Wow_! Something good happened today! This just now turned a sad disbanding day into something  _AMAZING_!”, Victor exclaimed loudly in the quiet night, throwing his arms around the neck of a very embarrassed Yuuri.

“You said you’d only touch the back…”, the brunette grumpily mumbled against Victor’s hair, looking adorably vexed.

“My hand slipped.”, Victor innocently replied, silly smile still in place.

 

**[A complex fool and a simplex fool – End]**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who read the manga, yes, that dinner scene with Yuri was slightly based on a scene from Sotsugyousei.
> 
> They are finally addressing each other by their first name, yay! I’m sorry to the Yuri!!! on Ice fans that felt like it took too long for this to happen and I’m also sorry to the Doukyuusei fans that expected me to keep this up for longer…  
> Anyway, we’ll get to see Phichit on the next intermission. (^_^)
> 
> Also, I love kudos and comments, so no need to be shy with those! (^_~)


	7. [Intermission III]

“… and then he hugged me.”, Yuuri finished his recounting of the previous night’s events, violently blushing and burying his face in his pillow in embarrassment.

After a whole morning sleeping his hangover away, Yuuri had spent the whole Saturday afternoon catching up with his big friend, Phichit Chulanont, who arrived that afternoon and was going back home on Sunday, right after lunch. Such a short stay for such a big friendship…

It was late at night, Phichit and Yuuri were laying under their respective bedsheets, lights out, whispering under the moonlight that stretched inside Yuuri’s bedroom through the open window.

“Aw…! He sounds so sweet. And he really seems to love you. I’m happy for you, Yuuri!”, Phichit whispered from his inflatable mattress, big sincere smile immediately spreading to his big dark shiny eyes.

Yuuri rolled his face on the pillow to look at his best friend, openly smiling back. Phichit simulated a pre-emptive tickle attack. Yuuri dodged it. Both muffled their laughs against their respective pillows. When the giggles subsided, they turned on their sides, facing each other, deep valuable childhood trust reflected on both their smiles.

A comfortable silence followed. Soon they were both on the verge of sleep.

“Are you happy?”, Phichit whispered softly in the dark, pulling Yuuri back into wakefulness.

Was he happy? Being with Victor?

Yuuri took both hands to his face, feeling the warmth of his rosy cheeks under his palms.

“My heart his pounding because of how happy I am.”

“Eh?”, Phichit mocked, “All the time? That sounds like an arrhythmia…!”

Yuuri kicked him.

“Ouch!”

Both sniggered quietly. Then Phichit’s face became thoughtful.

“Have you two talked about college?”

Yuuri’s face fell. He looked at the wall over Phichit’s head, then sighed.

“Not yet. I’ve been meaning to, but…”

“Eh?  _Not yet?_  Then, when?”, Phichit sounded worried, urgency to his murmured words, “That’s important! Is he even going to college?”

“I… I don’t know.”, Yuuri answered weakly.

There was a little pause.

“You  _don’t know_?”, Phichit slowly asked, “How’s that even po…”, he looked confused now, “Don’t you ever speak to each other? Do you just-”

“We talk a lot.”, Yuuri interrupted, “Just never about that. Every time I try bringing that up, somehow… I can’t.”, he finished miserably.

“But do you think he  _would_  go to college?”, Phichit asked carefully, starting to look concerned.

“Yes. No. I don’t know. He’s an artist, he… cares a lot about music. But he is clever. I know for a fact that he barely looks at the books, but still gets through all the school tests with good grades. Feltsman-sensei used to say that he’s letting a good brain go to waste.”

Phichit fixed a serious, worried stare on his best friend. Bit his lower lip. Hesitated.

“Yuuri, you know that you two will have to talk about this soon, right? Unless… he’s not really that important to you after all.”, a small pause, a little exasperated sigh, “Our plan could include him, but… If we are successful and he stays here… I mean, it’s a 9-hour car trip… 5 hours by shinkansen or 2 hours by plane, but those last two are expensive… It would be tough for a romantic relationship to-”

“I-I know.”, Yuuri shakenly interrupted him, flinching at his friend’s words, “We will talk.”

Another pause. A rustling of fabric. A shaky sigh disguised into a long yawn.

“You  _must_.”

 

**[Intermission III – End]**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Urgh... this feeling of impending doom... *shivers*   
> I'm sorry in advance.
> 
> Long chapter tomorrow! (^_^)


	8. [The second Summer]

“Yuuuuuuuuri…!”, Victor softly sing-songed, head elegantly resting on his arms, “What are you doing for Summer vacation?”

“Summer school.”, Yuuri absentmindedly replied, not interrupting his writing.

It was lunch break. Victor had infiltrated the 3-A classroom to fetch Yuuri for lunch, but ended up sitting perpendicularly to Yuuri on his desk while he finished a Biology report. They were alone in the room. The distant song of the cicadas was coming in from the open windows, the curtains were softly dancing to the gentle Summer draught.

“And in your free time? Are you going to the summer festival?”, Victor asked, hopeful.

“No. We visit my grandparents for a few weeks. Every year.”, Yuuri said, putting his pen down and gathering all the paper sheets to carefully stow them away into his bag. Suddenly, resolve took over his features, “What about you, Victor? Will you be attending prep school, or-”

“Won’t you be lonely?”, Victor interrupted, face down on his arms on the table top. He slowly turned his head on his arms, eyes big and shiny and mouth bowed in a cute little pout, “Won’t you want to see me?”, he whined softly, looking all the more like an irresistible little puppy.

Yuuri momentarily touched Victor’s hair, much like one would a cute puppy’s head.

“Of-of course…”, Yuuri replied, blushing and looking away.

Victor sat up and raised one hand to gently grab Yuuri’s chin and coax him to look at him again, then slowly leaned closer until they were kissing.

The kiss, quaint at first, became progressively deeper and more passionate, tongue dancing against tongue, teeth brushing against lip… until they were both gasping into each other’s mouths. Yuuri moaned softly, rocked slightly on his chair. And, suddenly, he was pushing Victor away.

“W-what is it?”, Victor gasped out of breath, sounding horny, frustrated and confused.

Yuuri didn’t reply. He was covering his mouth with his fist, beet red, shaking his head.

* * *

 

Victor was walking decidedly down the crowded school corridor towards the teachers’ workroom.

The 17-year-old was a bit… frustrated. Although, during the past few months, he and Yuuri had grown to share sexier, bolder kisses, their relationship didn’t seem to be progressing much beyond those and abundant, yet still quite innocent, affectionate caresses. Now that almost one year had passed since the beginning of their relationship, Victor just couldn’t help wondering why they would still stop at kissing. He couldn’t help wondering if Yuuri didn’t want him that way…

He got to his destination, sliding the workroom’s office door without knocking or asking for permission.

“Giacometti-senseeei!”, he called into the room. Multiple teachers turned to look at him. Cialdini-sensei dropped his backscratcher and blinked up at him from his chair.

“Yes, Nikiforov-kun?”, Giacometti-sensei asked, unperturbed, not raising his eyes from the book he was reading, “Why the unexpectedly proper addressing?”, he asked, finally looking up at Victor.

The Music teacher was sitting on a reclining chair, feet propped up, holding a book, clad in a yellowish golden suit, black shirt, black tie, black breast pocket handkerchief and black shoes.

Victor put on his best fake smile.

“I have a question, sir.”, he said politely.

Giacometti-sensei deposited his book on the desk beside him and sat straighter. He looked equal parts surprised and suspicious. And he had good reasons for that.

“When two men do it, how do they-”, Victor started in a loud, falsely innocent tone of voice.

Christophe Giacometti got to his feet immediately.

“Nikiforov!”, he screamed over Victor’s words, “Please follow me outside. Summer heat is frying your brains. Let’s get some fresh air, shall we?”, he finished awkwardly, hurrying towards the exit.

The flustered teacher lead them through the corridor and up the stairs to the rooftop, closing the door behind himself and Victor.

“Isn’t the rooftop out of limits for students?”, Victor murmured to himself, almost inaudibly.

“Do you hate me?”, Giacometti-sensei brusquely asked him.

There was a short pause during which teacher and student simply stared at each other.

“I should.”, Victor drawled, seemingly giving the idea serious consideration, “But no, I don’t.”

Giacometti-sensei fixed him with a deeply disbelieving stare, arms crossed over his chest.

“Well, you can see this as a form of light punishment.”, Victor said, shrugging.

“You broke my nose back then.”, Giacometti-sensei informed, monotone.

“Yes.”, Victor agreed, with a big, proud smile.

Giacometti-sensei combed one hand through his blonde hair and released a short sigh, controlled exasperation clear on it.

“What do you want from me?”, he asked tiredly, conformed.

“Of all the gay men I know, you are the one who probably has more experience in the field.”

“Well, that may be true…”, Giacometti-sensei prudently agreed, “Proceeed.”

“All I know about sexual intercourse between men comes mostly from some books I found once in a shoebox under my mother’s bed and, more recently, from some weird videos that I found online and a few fanfictions…”

Giacometti-sensei had a mildly shocked expression on his face, opening and closing his mouth a couple times, no words coming out.

“So, I tried talking about it with Yuri…”, Victor continued his exposition.

“Plisetsky?”

“Yeah.”

* * *

 

**_Victor’s talk with Yuri…_ **

“When two men do it, does it involve penetration right away or…?”, Victor asked conversationally.

Yuri dropped his dumpling and stared at his friend open-mouthed. They were having dinner at the Plisetskys’, Yuri’s grandfather wasn’t back from work yet, so Victor figured this was his best chance at quenching his thirst for knowledge.

“Huh?”, Yuri spit, disdain and disbelief clear in his interjection. Behind him, by the fridge, his fluffy Siamese cat hissed as if he shared Yuri’s exact feelings about that question.

“Penetration sounds painful. In books and fanfiction, it goes in so easily. I mean, there is some stretching involved, sometimes, but-”

“Shut up! What are you, a dog in heat??”, Yuri interrupted him, growling. The cat left the kitchen, looking offended.

“Yurochka, come on… I just need some guidance; I don’t really know if I can trust all the information I found…”, Victor tried to placate him, “How do you and Otabek-”

Yuri took a violent stab at Victor’s hand with his metal chopsticks. Victor escaped it by a matter or milliseconds. The threatening chopsticks stood up in place by themselves, carved into the wood.

“Ah!”, Victor screamed, “Are you insane? I just-”

“SHUT UP!”

He did.

* * *

 

**_Back to the present…_ **

“But he wasn’t very helpful…”, Victor said, absentmindedly massaging his left hand, “So, after that fiasco, I tried talking about it with Otabek…”

“Who?”, Giacometti-sensei sounded lost.

“Yuri’s boyfriend. He goes to another school. He was in the band, too?”, Victor tried to explain, “Well, never mind. So, I tried asking him too.”

* * *

 

**_Victor’s talk with Otabek…_ **

[Tuesday, 14:10] NIKIFOROV V: Hi! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

[Tuesday, 14:20] Otabek: Hello

[Tuesday, 14:21] NIKIFOROV V: I need some advice from you!!! ( ﾉ^.^)ﾉ

[Tuesday, 14:22] Otabek: Shoot

[Tuesday, 14:22] NIKIFOROV V: When you and Yuri do it, do you use lube?

[Tuesday, 15:40] NIKIFOROV V: Otabek?

[Tuesday, 20:01] NIKIFOROV V: Beka??

[Tuesday, 23:46] NIKIFOROV V: Not you too… (ó﹏ò｡)

[Wednesday, 00:30] NIKIFOROV V: Help me, please! ヾ(｡﹏｡)ﾉﾞ

* * *

 

**_Back to the present…_ **

“But I came out empty-handed, again. I guess Otabek is a… quiet, reserved kind of guy.”, Victor finished, sounding defeated.

“More so when it comes to his boyfriend, who is also  _your best friend_ , I bet…”, Giacometti-sensei said, facepalming and shaking his head, awkward smile in place, clearly sympathizing with Otabek, “I must confess that I’m a bit regretful that I never went to any of your performances now that you tell me that 75% of you guys are into men…”, he whispered almost imperceptibly, “… but never mind that…”

The teacher released a long-suffered sigh, absentmindedly scratched at his flaxen stubble and switched on into his most sensible teacher mode.

“As a third year, during Summer you should be focusing on your college applications and studying for your entrance exams, not obsessing over your lower half.”, he lightly reprimanded, “I understand that you don’t really care about those things, but, since Katsuki is aiming for Kyo Dai”, he said with a proud smile, “he needs the best possible mental and physical conditions to be able to succeed in his application for the Faculty of Medicine-”

“Medicine? Wow! Amazing!”, Victor interrupted, ecstatic. Then, there was a small awkward pause, “Wait. Kyo Dai as in… Kyoto University?”, he finished, nearly emotionlessly.

“Naturally.”, Giacometti-sensei chuckled, then froze, staring carefully at his student, “Wait, don’t tell me…”

“Kyoto, huh?”, Victor whispered thoughtfully, looked up at the sky, “This is news to me.”

“Is that so…?”, the teacher said awkwardly.

Victor kept staring at the sky, no expression on his face. Maybe a minute went by during which none of them spoke.

“I’m sorry.”, Giacometti-sensei finally said, quietly, sounding sincere. He waited for a reply for a few seconds, but none came. Eventually, he opened the rooftop door and left, concern deep in his eyes.

Up there, dozens of kilometres away from the ground, a plane was loudly ripping through the blue sky. But, to Victor, it felt as if that deafening sound came from within his own body. Like the aircraft was ripping through his flesh and bones instead…

* * *

 

It was early night time; a nice breeze was caressing Victor’s face as he sat with Makkachin on a public bench in front of Yuuri’s prep school. He didn’t want his dog to come, but the loyal pup had followed him there despite his best efforts to dissuade him. It was like he was worried about Victor. Either that, or he just wanted to see Yuuri.

Victor released a long sigh, nervously patting Makkachin’s head, trying to calm himself down.

Finally, Yuuri came out through the automatic glass doors of the prep school. He looked up and immediately saw Victor and Makkachin. Victor waved once, Yuuri smiled and came closer, smile slowly dissolving with each step as he focused Victor’s face better.

Yuuri looked pale and tired. He also looked worried, now. Victor’s heart contracted painfully in his chest.

“Everything alright?”, Yuuri asked softly when he was close enough, stretching his right arm to try and touch Victor’s hand. Victor discreetly dodged the touch attempt by beginning to pace towards the vending machines that stood one block over, on the other side of the street, near the same park of about one year ago.

“Want to get a soda?”, he asked with his best fake smile, bogus cheerfulness and all.

He got a glimpse of Yuuri’s hurt face right before he turned his back to him, but he could hear the other boy following behind him as he walked towards the vending machines.

“Hello, Makachin, how are you doing?”, he could hear Yuuri’s quiet greeting. Makkachin whimpered a bit, like he was complaining about something. Yuuri hummed in apparent understanding and patted the dog’s head. Apart from that little exchange, they walked quietly the rest of the way, all of them too afraid to break the tense silence, even the dog.

Victor got them both the same fizzing soda they used to have during their singing practice about one year ago.

“Oh… these come in lemon flavour now…”, he observed, feeling a bit betrayed by the soda not being exactly what it used to be and passing Yuuri his own bottle. But he knew nothing ever stayed exactly the same, given enough time.

The three of them sat on about the same stone steps of before, the poodle sitting to Yuuri’s left.

Makkachin laid his head on his paws, looking sad, Yuuri sat immobile, very tensely straight, clearly waiting for bad news, Victor opened his soda and took a sip, trying to gather his courage and his words. Yuuri’s bottle stood untouched between them.

The crickets were singing and the stars were shining up there in the sky, just like in both their memories of that long past night. But the artificial pond was basically dry, no sound of water whatsoever. The warm night air felt dry and suffocating against Victor’s throat.

“I heard you are applying to Kyoto University.”, Victor said into the silence, no emotion to his words.

Yuuri’s eyes went wide as he turned to Victor in shock, then he looked back down at his own knees, looking sad.

“Who told you?”, he murmured, conformed.

“Giaco-sen. By accident. He thought I knew.”

“I see.”, Yuuri said to his knees, nodding once.

“ _I see_.”, Victor repeated with an empty chuckle, getting to his feet and walking a few paces towards the pitifully dried-up fountain, still holding the soda in his right hand. Makkachin raised his head, looked at his owner and whined quietly, “Someone else told me. Not you, Yuuri.”, Victor accused.

“Yes, I…”

“When did you decide that?”, Victor asked matter-of-factly, turning to look at Yuuri.

Yuuri was looking up at him, face pale.

“Y-years ago…”, he whispered weakly, “I’ve wanted to do this since kindergarten. It’s part of a plan I made with Phichit-kun back in elementary school… We… we go to Kyo Dai, live together at his family’s house there during class, become doctors together-”

“What about us?”, Victor interrupted, finally showing his pain. Yuuri winced; he looked close to tears. Makkachin whined and walked to Victor’s side, “Didn’t you think about how something like that would affect our relationship since we became involved? Things like distance and time…”, Victor made a little pause, took one step towards Yuuri, who was still stuck in place, looking sad and defeated, “I mean, we could probably make it work even then, but… Why did I have to learn about this through someone else? Why didn’t  _you_  tell me, Yuuri?”

“I… I tried…”, Yuuri stuttered weakly.

“If I hadn’t found out by accident, I would’ve just… never known until you left. And it would end like that. Us.”

“No! This is not how… I wanted to tell you, I… I  _tried_  to tell you a few times, but…”, Yuuri’s weak reply lost strength until it faded away into the night. Victor came nearer, now standing in front of Yuuri’s hunched form.

“But it didn’t matter, right?”, he asked softly; Yuuri looked up at him, eyes wide, “You would never change your mind. Yours and Chulanont-kun’s plan would not be jeopardized because of me. So, why put yourself into trying to tell me about it?”, Victor strained to keep his voice from shaking, “You were hoping that our relationship would gradually fade out, that…”, he couldn’t help it any longer, tears were rolling down his face, “…that what we have would just end naturally-”

Yuuri shakily got to his feet, looking wounded.

“You-you didn’t tell me anything either!!”, he was crying too, pale, voice shaking, “What your plans for the future are… whether you’ll go to college or not… whether you’ll stay in Hasetsu after graduation or go live somewhere else, even return to Russia…!”, he made a small pause to pitifully snivel up a bit of snot, “It’s like I don’t know anything about you!”

Makkachin whined quietly, moving to sit between them. He nosed at Victor’s soda bottle, which was hanging loosely from his right hand, accidently making it fall to the ground.

For a few seconds, they just stood there, staring at each other’s teary-eyed, hurt faces, Yuuri’s sobs slowly dying down.

“You’re right.”, Victor softly broke the unpleasant silence, “We don’t know anything about each other.”, he said, patting Makkachin’s head, “Maybe we should not meet each other for a while.”

Yuuri sniffled quietly but didn’t reply. He looked down at the spilling liquid.

Victor left. Makkachin followed, not before licking once at Yuuri’s hand, comfortingly.

The spilled fizzy lemon soda tried to conquer the spot on the ground that Victor had just vacated.

* * *

 

It was the first day of Summer vacation and it was a blazing hot Summer day outside; the cicadas were outright screeching.

Victor and Makkachin were at the Plisetskys’, both laying splayed on the slightly cooler ground, slowed down into a heat stupor; Yuri and Otabek were playing on the console a couple meters away, also sitting on the ground.

“Beat you.”, Otabek observed for the nth time, matter-of-factly.

Yuri released an exasperated sigh, throwing himself back onto the ground.

“Damn it, you’re too good at this…”, he complained, pouting up at Otabek, then shuffled on the ground to look at Victor, “Vic-tor! Play with me!”, he ordered.

“No.”, Victor immediately replied, throwing an arm over his face.

“Are you going to stay there all afternoon like a freaking zombie?”, Yuri insisted, teasing.

Victor didn’t reply. Yuri huffed irritably. Otabek laid down on the ground beside him, propping his head up with his left hand, staring deeply down into Yuri’s beautiful green eyes.

“What?”, Yuri whispered softly, almost inaudibly.

Otabek took his right hand to Yuri’s chin, pushing gently at the blonde’s lower lip with his thumb. Yuri opened his mouth slightly as his boyfriend started to lean down, closing his eyes for Otabek’s kiss… And opening them again, violently sitting up and accidently head-butting Otabek in the process.

“Ouch!”, both groaned painfully in unison, sitting up and leaning away from each other, rubbing at their respective foreheads. Victor took his arm off his face and turned his head to look at them.

“What is it?”, he asked groggily.

“N-none of your business.”, Yuri immediately replied, throwing a reproachful look at Otabek, who just stared back, confused. Yuri leant his head towards Victor once, as an explanation, gesture to which Otabek just shrugged, looking even more confused. They’d kissed in front of Victor before, what was Yuri on about…? Suddenly, understanding dawned on his face. He nodded once, solemn.

“You guys are cute.”, Victor chuckled, evaluating them through slightly dazed eyes. Makkachin wagged his tail, otherwise immobile.

“Shut up.”, Yuri fumed, “Idiot.”

“Hey, Victor. Do you have any plans for Summer vacation?”, Otabek asked innocently.

“Nope. None at all!”, Victor declared cheerfully, then turned on his side, back towards the pair.

Yuri cringed at the obvious falsehood of that cheer, then threw Otabek a knowing look, which his boyfriend returned.

“Don’t you and Katsuki-”, Otabek began.

Yuri kicked him, then shook his head.

A pause.

“You know, er… Katsudon looked pretty miserable in class last week.”, Yuri hesitantly observed, “Maybe all that studying-”

“What are you guys doing after graduation?”, Victor interrupted, raising his voice over Yuri’s and sitting up like all his energy had suddenly returned to him. Makkachin sat up too and whimpered, coming closer to lick at Victor’s cheek.

There was a small pause, during which Otabek and Yuri just blinked at Victor.

“I-I’m staying in Hasetsu with Gramps. He wants me to go to college, so I applied for Engineering at Kyu Dai… I plan to keep on doing stuff in music too, if I can… hadn’t I told you about this…?

“You probably did…”, Victor chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head, “What about you, Otabek?”

“Pharmaceutical Sciences. Kyushu University.”

“Right. Riiiiiight!”, Victor merrily sing-songed, “You spoke to each other and you’re going to stick together. That’s great!”, he started laughing.

Makkachin whimpered again, loudly, pawing at Victor’s arm, clearly worried as his owner laughed on. And on.

It was a long creepy laugh, but it eventually stopped, huge empty smile firmly stuck to Victor’s face.

Yuri shivered in place.

“You should come to Itoshima with us, Victor.”, Otabek declared, serious.

“… Y-yeah…”, Yuri agreed, sounding rather displeased, like he was doing a terrible sacrifice for the greater good of mankind, “Otabek, Gramps and I are going to Itoshima for Summer vacation. And you’re coming too.”, he declared with finality.

“Okay.”

* * *

 

“And now some important information for those of you taking the mock exam this August. You’re encouraged to wear your uniforms. Start time is 10 AM. Latecomers won’t be allowed to enter, so please be careful. That’s all.”, the teacher said to a classroom filled with nervous third-years. Yuuri wrote down the start time on his notebook.

That day, he left the prep school early in the afternoon and made his way back to the train station. He had to take the train back to Imari, back to his grandparents’, where his parents and sister were spending their much-deserved vacation, as they typically did every year.

Though, somehow, this year, Summer vacation at his grandparents’ didn’t feel as fun as in previous years. Of course, Yuuri was busy studying for his high school and university entrance exams and didn’t have much free time… but still… it all just felt… wrong.

And he knew why that was. There was a Victor-shaped hole excavated into every moment of his awake hours. Perhaps even of his asleep hours… And it hurt to face that hole. It hurt very much.

Yuuri stood behind the platform’s yellow line, waiting for his train, trying to diverge his thoughts from their current downwards painful trajectory, but to no avail.

 _You’re right. We don’t know anything about each other_.

That wasn’t true. They might’ve failed to handle this specific situation, but that didn’t mean they were strangers. Far from it.

Yuuri’s throat seemed to contract.

 _Maybe we should not meet each other for a while_.

Why had Victor said something like that? Didn’t saying something like that hurt him, too?

Yuuri gasped for air, it felt like he couldn’t breathe properly.

The train arrived, came to a stop before Yuuri, doors opening, passengers coming out. He didn’t move. Cold sweat began sprouting on his forehead, on the back of his neck, panic clawing at his chest. His heart was beating fast, out of rhythm, Yuuri felt like he was having a heart attack.

In the end, he couldn’t take the train. He was now squatting beside a column, shaking uncontrollably, attempting to rein over his laborious breathing, trying not to throw up, awkwardly struggling to appease the occasional worried passer-by.

 _It’s alright, I’m fine, I just have to take the next train…_ , he thought over his painful noisy memories. But, it didn’t matter how many times he repeated that mantra of reassurance to himself, Victor’s words just wouldn’t stop reverberating against the walls of his head.

* * *

 

It had been a good but long day, the four of them merrily sightseeing around Itoshima under the blazing Summer sun. They were staying at Mamushi Hot Spring and currently soaking in their beautiful onsen, relaxing away their tired, but happy muscles. Yuri’s grandfather had already retired to bed. Yuri was feeling sleepy too, sitting in the warm water with his eyes closed, anticipating the following day with a quite uncharacteristic smile. They were going to the beach. It was going to be nice.

A foot gently touched his underwater. He opened his eyes to look at Otabek with a questioning raised eyebrow. Otabek solemnly pointed in Victor’s general direction with his chin.

Victor was sitting in the water a couple meters away from of them, looking at the night sky with a weird glassed-over expression. Yuri bet he was having perverted thoughts about him and Katsudon in Katsudon’s family onsen. He shivered, disgusted.

“Will you ask him, or should I?”, Otabek whispered.

Yuri released an exasperated sigh.

“Oy, old guy!”, he called. Victor lowered his gaze, staring at him with a blank expression.

“Yes?”

“Did you and Katsudon have a fight or something?”, he asked brusquely.

“I thought that was pretty obvious, even for you angry feline creatures.”, Victor said with a teasing smile.

“You…!”, Yuri growled, violently getting to his feet to physically throw himself at a sneering Victor, water splashing everywhere. Otabek got to his feet too, grabbing at Yuri’s middle and forcing him to sit back down. Yuri resisted, fuming and hissing in Otabek’s firm, but gentle grasp.

“Do you want to talk about it?”, Otabek calmly asked at a still grinning Victor over Yuri’s struggles.

Victor considered Otabek, face suddenly serious. Didn’t reply.

“Let go. I won’t murder him anymore, I promise.”, Yuri said.

Otabek let go of a still threateningly pouting Yuri, but kept staring at Victor, expectant.

“Just spit it out already.”, Yuri venomously commanded, pushing his hair away from his face.

“He’s applying for Kyoto University.”

There was a small pause, during which the three boys all but stared at each other.

“… And?”, Yuri asked.

“Giaco-sen told me, not him. He’s planned it since… ever. And he never even mentioned it to me.”

“Well…”, Yuri started, unsure, clearly feeling awkward, “… there was still time for him to-”

“And had you mentioned your plans to him?”, Otabek interrupted.

“Yeah…!”, Yuri immediately supported his boyfriend, “What even are your plans? You haven’t told me, either.”

“I… I…”

“You couldn’t logically be expecting Katsuki-kun to have no plans just because you were being too lazy to make any plans at all.”, Otabek sternly declared.

Victor’s eyes went wide with realisation, then he looked down at his submerged feet, mortified.

A long silence followed. Otabek deposited a little peck on Yuri’s left shoulder. He yawned, then threw a sleepy pissed look at Victor.

“There was a failure in communication between the two of you and now you are both miserable. So, what? You are the only one without a plan. Just stop being an idiot and make up your own mind already.”, he spit, then carefully got to his feet, pulling a proud-looking Otabek along with him.

Victor nodded in agreement, crestfallen. He got to his feet and followed the two boys inside.

If only he hadn’t forgotten his phone back at home…

This was going to be a long, loooong Summer vacation.

* * *

 

“Yuuri, are you sure you’re going to be alright taking the train?”, Mari asked as Yuuri was about to leave the house, “Grandmother said I can take you to Hasetsu on Grandfather’s car, if you want.”

Clad in his school uniform, school bag on his shoulder, Yuuri turned to look at his older sister.

“I’m fine, thank you. Besides, it’s just a mock exam, nothing important.”, Yuuri said with a small nervous smile, being completely unconvincing in his attempt of reassuring Mari.

Mari seemed to be scrutinizing him, a slight worried frown on her face.

“Yes. It  _is_  just a mock exam.”, she slowly agreed, “Call me any time if you change your mind or need anything, okay? I’ll keep my phone with me.”

Yuuri nodded once, looking pale, then valiantly walked outside under the scorching sun, closing the door behind himself.

As he was boarding the train, Yuuri checked his phone to look at the time – there was still plenty of time – and automatically checked his texts. There was a cheerful good luck text from this morning from Phichit, but nothing from Victor. Not a single text or call from him during the entire Summer vacation.

 _What about us? Didn’t you think about how something like that would affect our relationship since we became involved? Things like distance and time_ …

Yuuri had thought about it. He had. He even went through a couple sleepless nights worrying about it.

He walked into the train carriage feeling his steps a bit unsteady.

_Why did I have to learn about this through someone else? Why didn’t you tell me, Yuuri?_

He wanted to tell Victor, countless times. But his half-assed attempts had all been thwarted and it was just… easier to savour the moment and pretend nothing had to change.

The doors of the train slid into place before Yuuri. He took a shaky hand to the pole beside him, trying to steady himself.

 _If I hadn’t found out by accident, I would’ve just… never known until you left. And it would end like that. Us_.

No. It wasn’t like that, Yuuri had never intended for something like that to happen…

He was shaking now, grasping white-knuckled at the metal pole to stop himself from falling.

 _But it didn’t matter, right? You would never change your mind. Yours and Chulanont-kun’s plan would not be jeopardized because of me_.

That was… mostly true. But Victor made it sound like something perverse. Yuuri had never seen Victor like an obstacle he had to eliminate…

A wave of nausea came over Yuuri and his knees gave out. He started to slowly crumble to the floor.

A few passengers were now staring at him, apprehensive.

 _You were hoping that our relationship would gradually fade out, that what we have would just end naturally_.

No! How could Victor say something like that to him? Yuuri had never wished for them to naturally drift apart, on the contrary… And Victor should be the first one to believe that.

Yuuri was having trouble breathing, short fast breaths leaving his uncooperative lungs, cold sweat making him shiver and dripping from his forehead onto the floor.

 _You’re right. We don’t know anything about each other_.

That was not true. Victor had to know that wasn’t true. He had to…

Squatting on the floor, arms and legs tingling like they were being punctured by countless needles, shaking and nauseated, out of breath, feeling like he could die at any moment, black dots beginning to form in his field of vision, Yuuri was conceded a short amount of relief.

The memory of Victor smiling up at him, head elegantly laying on his arms, golden light caressing his stunning face and his extraordinary soft shiny grey hair, the classroom curtains softly moving to the warm Summer breeze…  _Won’t you be lonely?_ _Won’t you want to see me?_

Yuuri’s phone vibrated in his breast pocket. Yuuri jumped out of his consciousness limbo, took one shaking hand to his phone, trying and failing to control his shallow breathing.

“Hel-”, he tried, gasping.

“Yuuri! Finally, it connected! I’ve been calling since I came back… Where are you?”, Victor’s cheerful and relieved voice made itself heard against Yuuri’s ear, “What’s that sound? Are you outside?”

Yuuri tried not to focus on the black dots, desperately holding the phone against his head despite his hurting, shivering limbs.

“… the… t-train…”, he rasped.

“What’s wrong?”, Victor sounded worried now.

“… f-feel sick… get out… next… s-station…”, Yuuri managed, despite his increasingly more unresponsive tongue.

“What station?”, Victor asked, urgent.

“… Ya-ya…mamo…”

There was a dry thud and a rustling sound, a plastic crashing sound and then multiple worried voices coming closer. And then the line fell.

* * *

 

_Yuuri was standing up, facing Victor. They were both wearing their school uniform.  It was coal black all around them, but they seemed to be glowing somehow._

_Yuuri shivered. Cold was raising from the ground as if they were standing on ice. He looked down and, in the darkness, he thought he could distinguish a kind of powdered ice by his shoes._

_Odd. He looked back up, ignoring the cold for now._

_Two pieces of the same beautiful yellow ribbon were tied around both their wrists, a lovely bow hanging between the pair, securely holding them together._

_It felt right._

_“I like this colour.”, Victor declared, with a soft, sincere smile._

_“Lemon yellow?”, Yuuri asked, raising his wrist to his face to take a better look at the ribbon._

_“Yes. Reminds me of the summer.”, Victor happily explained, winking._

_“Yes, it does.”, Yuuri agreed, smiling back, immediately feeling less cold, “I thought you didn’t like the Summer much, though.”_

_“I didn’t. I don’t despise the heat, but Summer always reminds me of you, now. And I love you.”_

“… Katsuki…”

“Katsuki-kun….?”

“… Hey, Katsuki-kun.”

“Katsuki…?”

_“They’re calling you.”, Victor calmly observed._

_“Uh? Where-”_

_He was interrupted by Victor casually taking a pair of scissors to the ribbon and unceremoniously cutting it._

_Yuuri jumped in shock, almost slipping face first into the ice._

_“NO! Why did you do that??”, he screamed, holding his severed half up in mourning._

_“Well-”_

_“I thought you liked this ribbon!”, Yuuri accused, chest hurting._

_“It’s okay!”, Victor declared, confident, “We can just tie it again.”, he informed with a little pirouette. Then, he slid on the ice towards Yuuri, positioning himself behind the other boy._

_Yuuri felt warmer, but his chest still hurt. He liked the way things were before._

_“But… but it won’t look the same. The ribbon.”, he tried to explain._

_“Yes.”, Victor conceded, positioning his arms under Yuuri’s and raising them in an elegant, fluid movement, “But even if it looks different, it will still be tying us together. Besides, it’s not like the colour will change.”, Victor declared cheerfully, pulling Yuuri with him through the ice in a graceful glide, just as stage lights started to illuminate the ice rink._

“Katsuki-kun….?”

“Oy, Katsudon!”

“Yuuri. Yuuri. Yuuri!”

Yuuri opened his eyes and saw a grey ceiling with fluorescent lights. Closer, surrounding him, a circle of heads, staring down at him. Then, Victor’s upside down pale, worried face filled most of his field of vision.

“Thank goodness!”, Victor exhaled, sounding immensely relieved, affectionately squeezing Yuuri’s shoulder, “I was so worried! I didn’t understand the whole name of the station, Yuri was the one who guessed it was Yamamoto station and, when we got here, they were pulling you out of the carriage, unconscious. I…”, Victor’s voice failed. He squeezed Yuuri’s shoulder again. The crowd around them was dispersing.

“Katsudon, why are you in your school uniform? Where were you going?”, Yuri asked from Yuuri’s left. Yuuri slowly turned his head to look at the bored-looking blonde. And, in doing so, he noticed that his upper body was resting on Victor’s thighs, the back of his head resting on the other’s lower belly. He blushed, embarrassed, and tried to sit up. Victor helped him into a sitting position.

He stared at his right wrist, confused.

“Huh? Where is the ribbon…?”, he asked under his breath. Then looked at the wrist watch that was on his arm and sat up straighter. It was 9:31h.

“Oh no…! The mock exam start time is at 10 o’clock…! I won’t make it, I’ll fail again…”, Yuuri started panicking.

“It’s just a mock exam.”, Victor tried to soothe him.

“No, you don’t understand. This happened with the high school entrance exams too. I failed all of them, the exams for all my schools of choice. Because I couldn’t take the train. I only made it into Hasetsunishi High School because I didn’t have to take the train there…”

“So what?”, Yuri asked, arms crossed over his chest, staring down at him, looking incredibly bored, “That doesn’t automatically mean you’re going to fail this exam too. Don’t be an idiot. It’s less than 20 minutes from here to the school.”, he directed his attention to Victor, “Grab.”, he said, throwing something at Victor, who easily grabbed it, “Take him there. I’ll take the train back home.”, he leaned close to Victor’s face, a frightening dark expression overcoming his delicate features, “Deliver it back to me unscathed or you’ll never see the sunlight again.”, he growled.

Victor solemnly nodded. Yuuri shivered. In a second, Victor was gently pulling him out of the train station by the wrist.

* * *

 

“D-do you know how to drive that?”, Yuuri asked, unsure, looking intimidated by Yuri’s black motorcycle.

“Yes. I got my licence at Itoshima.”, Victor said proudly, passing Yuuri a helmet.

“Itoshima?”

“Yes, I went there with Yuri, Otabek and Plisetsky-san. It was great. We went to the beach. And there was a nice onsen…”, he paused, smiled at Yuuri mischievously and winked, “I’m sure your onsen is better, though.”

“Of course.”, Yuuri agreed good-humouredly, hopping onto the bike behind Victor and grabbing his middle with both hands.

“I forgot my phone in Hasetsu and Yuri didn’t have your number, so I couldn’t call you, that was terrible!”, Victor whined, expertly manoeuvring the bike into the road.

_Oh._

Yuuri fit his helmet covered head in the space between Victor’s shoulder blades. The visor was up, so he breathed in, letting Victor’s smell comfort him. His whole world felt right again. He exhaled, letting himself relax against Victor’s back. He’d missed him. He’d missed him so much.

“I’m sorry.”, Victor said, “I’m sorry I didn’t talk about graduation with you. I was trying to procrastinate on my decision because I thought the future would inevitably bring an end to our relationship, not realizing that in doing so I was just making it harder for the both of us to find a way of staying together in the future. There was a failure in communication, like Yuri said. But, like you failing at your preferred high school entrance exams resulted in you and me becoming classmates, a good thing also came out of this situation!”

Yuuri raised his head and stared at the back of Victor’s helmet, expectant.

“I’ve decided to move forward. I’ve sent my application to Kyo Dai’s Faculty of Music!”, he proudly declared.

“Really?”, Yuuri asked softly, moved, grabbing Victor’s middle a little harder. A wave of pure happiness washed over him.

“Leaving you is not an option for me right now.”, Victor said.

Yuuri laid his head back down on Victor’s back.

“That’s not an option for me, either… I want to keep eating katsudon with you forever, Victor.”, he breathed.

Victor chuckled.

“So, please, don’t cut the ribbon so easily.”

“Ribbon?”

* * *

 

They arrived 10 minutes before the start time. Yuuri had climbed down the motorcycle and was now giving his helmet back to Victor, who was sitting on the still purring bike.

“Yuuri, turn around.”, Victor said suddenly.

“Huh?”

“Turn around, okay?”, he repeated, looking equal parts embarrassed and exasperated.

Yuuri obliged.

“Um, like this?”, he awkwardly asked over his shoulder.

Victor didn’t reply and simply hugged him from behind, arms crossed over Yuuri’s chest, chin resting on Yuuri’s left shoulder. Yuuri tensed up, blushing intensely.

“You can make it.”, Victor seductively whispered by Yuuri’s ear, “I know how hard you worked, I know how intelligent you are, so give it all you have.”

“I will.”, Yuuri solemnly replied, turning in Victor’s embrace and stretching up a bit so that he could chastely kiss Victor.

“Just watch me!”, he said, confident, and walked inside in a fast pace.

* * *

 

Victor woke up when he felt Yuuri sitting down beside him.

“Ah… I fell asleep…”, he groggily observed.

He had parked Yuri’s motorbike under the shade of a nice tree, sitting down by the garden’s sidewalk, resting his back against a lamp post and immediately falling asleep.

Yuuri smiled affectionately at him. Victor smiled back.

“How did it go?”, he asked, expectant.

Other third years were walking past them, going back home after the mock exam.

“No idea.”, Yuuri easily replied, shrugging, “But it’s okay. As long as you stay by my side… that’s enough for me.”, Yuuri finished, blushing slightly and looking down at his shoes, embarrassed.

Victor took one hand to his lover’s head, gently caressing his soft dark locks until Yuuri hesitantly looked back up.

“I wish I can stay by your side forever.”, Victor declared in a low voice.

“That almost sounds like a marriage proposal.”, Yuuri observed with a little, playful smile.

Pink tongue tip adorably sticking out, Victor winked at him.

They both laughed. A couple students walking nearby looked at them, curious.

“I want to kiss.”, Victor whispered, leaning a bit into Yuuri’s personal space.

Yuuri blushed and looked the other way.

“T-there’s too many people around…”, he whispered back, embarrassed.

Victor released a dramatically long, miserable, pained sigh, pouting adorably, but sitting back straight before wretchedly laying his head on his bent knees.

After a pause, Yuuri lightly touched Victor’s hair, coaxing him to look up. There was a determined expression on Yuuri’s deep red face. Victor smiled tenderly and welcomed the kiss.

It was a short, chaste, but heartfelt kiss. In the end, they stared shiny-eyed at each other, a lovely blush on both their faces.

“One more.”, Victor tried.

“No.”, Yuuri softly replied, hugging Victor’s back with his right arm in apology.

Victor caught Yuuri’s right hand in his, reverently taking it to his lips, then resting their interlaced fingers against his shoulder.

They sat there together, holding each other like that under the nice shade, for a while, the other students walking past them, impervious to their happiness.

 

離れずにそばにいて

_Hanarezu ni soba ni ite._

_Stammi vicino, non te ne andare._

_Stay by my side and never leave me._

**[The second Summer – End]**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, guys! This adventure is coming to an end. Don’t miss the long epilogue on Friday! (Hopefully.) Prepare your goodbyes.  
> Oh, and by the way, there are two sex scenes in the epilogue.


	9. [Epilogue]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter includes the two very first sex scenes I wrote in my fanfic author career and I… er… I hope they turned out alright?

Classes restarted. Things went back to their previous rhythm. Or almost. Victor was focusing more on his studies. He had decided to go into Kyo Dai, after all…! But he also started searching for a deal with a music record label.

Despite their fuller schedule, Yuuri and Victor still managed to go out together on many dates, as well as taking long walks by the beach after school and soaking in the Yu-topia Katsuki onsen.

They also started venturing into progressively hotter make out sessions.

Autumn went by like a gush of wind. And then, Winter arrived. Freezing cold Winter. Victor loved it. Yuuri not so much.

The brunette flinched. Victor had stopped kissing him to insistently lick at his lips, in a rather… non-sexy way. It stung a little, too. Yuuri pushed him away slightly.

“W-what…?”

They were sitting in a hidden corner table of a quiet café they would sometimes go to on weekend afternoons, to study together.

“Your lips are chapped.”, Victor explained, looking pensive, then popped a small lip balm container from his pocket. Using his finger, he gracefully smoothed some of the balm on Yuuri’s gritty red lips, like this was the natural thing to do.

 _In fact_ , Yuuri thought, blushing, _for us, it is_.

“Don’t you use lip balm?”, Victor asked.

“Not usually.”

Victor scrunched his nose, displeased.

“Your hands, too…”, he said, taking Yuuri’s left hand in both of his, “So white and dry, like chalky potatoes.”

 _Ch-chalky potatoes?_ , Yuuri wondered if he should feel offended. But Victor looked honestly worried.

“Don’t you use hand cream?”

“Er… no…?”, Yuuri weakly replied, awkward.

Victor considered him reproachfully.

“You should wear gloves, at least.”

Yuuri nodded, awkwardly solemn, trying to end that conversation.

“Right, so… I really need to finish this…”, he said, diverting their attention back to their study materials.

* * *

 

And then, the day of Yuuri’s and Victor’s university entrance exam arrived.

It was nice that both their exams were happening on the same day, Yuuri’s in the morning, Victor’s in the early afternoon. That way, they were able to take the 5-hour train trip to Kyoto together and Victor was finally able to meet the legendary Phichit Chulanont.

“Yuuuuuuuuuri!”, a cheerful brunette exclaimed, popping out from the crowd of people surrounding the just arrived train and immediately hugging Yuuri.

“Phichit-kun!  _Sawasdee krab_!”, Yuuri exclaimed, hugging him back, a mix of surprise and delight in his voice, which was muffled by the voluminous coats they were both wearing.

Standing beside them, Victor observed the two good friends.

“Nikiforov-kun!”, Phichit exclaimed with a big smile, finally releasing Yuuri, “I’m so glad to finally meet you in person!”

“Likewise!”, Victor said, smiling back.

During the past few months, Victor had spoken with Phichit online, alongside Yuuri, for maybe a couple times. Phichit was in many social networks, being very active in all of them.

“Let’s take a selfie!”, he exclaimed, immediately getting into position between Yuuri and Victor, conjuring a phone out of nowhere and taking the photo, all in a matter of a second.

“Looks great.”, he declared, typing something into his phone, “Okay! Let’s go.”, he said, grabbing Yuuri by the wrist and walking towards the exit.

Victor chuckled, then followed.

Phichit family’s house was within walking distance from the station, but, because Kyo Dai was “on the way”, they stopped there first, trying to figure out where precisely in the campus their exams were going to happen the following day.

Once that was done, Phichit insisted that they visited a Shinto temple that was “also on the way”, the Yoshida Shrine.

The three of them walked up the stairs and prayed side by side at the temple. Eyes closed, Victor prayed for the three of them to pass their entrance exams and come live together in Kyoto, as was their plan.

“Here you go.”, Phichit said, holding up a protective charm in front of Victor. Yuuri was holding a similar one in his gloved hands. Victor had given him those black gloves.

“ _Khob khun, kup_ , Phichit-kun!”

“Thank you~!”, Victor enthusiastically exclaimed with a big smile, “I’ll be right back!”, he said, running up to the charms’ vendor, “Hello! Do you have any for passing exams? For Marriage?”

Yuuri and Phichit guffawed in the back.

He ended up buying two Yoshida Shrine Study Charms.

Phichit took lots of photos.

* * *

 

They finally made it to the house.

“This is my father’s parents’ house. They lived here when he and my uncles were little. Now, they all have their own houses and my grandparents have returned to Thailand, so the house is empty most of the year, except for when my grandparents come to visit or someone in the family needs to stay in Kyoto for a few days.”, Phichit explained, when they started nearing the big house, “They have rented it for students in the past, too, as it is so close to campus and has so many rooms.”

Victor stared, shocked. It was a huge house, a bit old-fashioned, perhaps, but well-preserved and sturdy-looking.

“Living here alone would be boring as hell. But with the two of you here too, I’m sure it’ll be great! There’s a garden in the back, so you could even perhaps bring your dog sometimes, Nikiforov-kun!”, Phichit suggested with shiny eyes while unlocking the front door. It opened to a big Japanese-style hall and a spacious corridor with open sliding doors that led to big rooms on both sides.

“Wow! Amazing!”

“It’s big!”

“Yeah.”, Phichit laughed, “You can pick whatever room you like for your bedroom.”

* * *

 

They were starving and exhausted, so they ended up having convenience store bentos for dinner and going straight to bed, each in their respective room.

The house didn’t have much furniture, nor did it have a television or even enough blankets for the Winter night that they were facing. Victor didn’t mind the cold, so he only took one blanket with him, leaving the others for Yuuri and Phichit.

He was nearly asleep, when the sound of his door gently sliding open jostled him back into wakefulness. He turned in his futon to look at his visitor.

“I can’t sleep.”, Yuuri quietly whispered from the doorway.

“Do you want to sleep together?”, Victor immediately offered, raising his bedcovers a bit for Yuuri to get under them beside him.

Yuuri hesitated for a few seconds, then shivered, carefully slid the door closed, took his glasses off and laid down beside Victor.

“Where you cold?”, Yuuri asked timidly.

“No. But I’m warmer now. It’s nice.”, Victor purred, turning his face on the pillow to tenderly kiss Yuuri’s left temple.

Yuuri turned his head to look at him. Victor raised his left hand to cup Yuuri’s cheek and soon they were kissing passionately, pausing only from time to time to catch their breaths.

Victor’s hand was now migrating downwards on Yuuri’s neck, fingers venturing under the brunette’s pyjama collar…

“S-stop.”, Yuuri halted him. Victor immediately took his hands off the other boy., worried that he might’ve done something wrong. Yuuri sat up on the futon, Victor sat up too, uncertain.

“My glasses.”, Yuuri explained, sounding apologetic, “Without them, I can’t see you properly. I… I want to see this.”, he finished, adjusting the glasses on his nose, deep blush on his face.

“Mm…”, Victor purred, arms embracing Yuuri’s middle, “Sexy…”

Yuuri chuckled awkwardly.

“I’m not sexy.”

“Oh, yes you are… Mm… Seduce me, Yuuri.”, Victor sensuously whispered against his lips, kissing him again. Yuuri blushed a deeper shade of red, but complied. And so, both sitting up now, legs tangled, they ventured into deeper and deeper kisses, bolder and bolder caresses.

At some point, Victor licked Yuuri’s earlobe.

“Ah…”, Yuuri moaned, immediately covering his mouth with his fist, looking shocked.

“Is that good?”

“Yeah, but…”

Victor kissed his neck.

“But…?”

“Phichit-kun is sleeping in the next room…”, Yuuri whispered.

“We’ll have to be quiet, then.”, Victor whispered back, then licked at Yuuri’s neck. Yuuri suppressed another moan.

“Either I or you will have to choose a room that is farther away from his…”, Yuuri breathed into Victor’s hair as the other boy kissed down his collarbone.

“Mm-mm…”, Victor agreed, not raising his lips from Yuuri’s skin. His hands were traveling up Yuuri’s back underneath his pyjama top, his right hand venturing to the front of his lover’s chest, thumb barely rubbing at a nipple there.

Yuuri gasped and tensed up. Victor stopped, looked up at him, searching.

“No… it’s nothing. Go on.”

Victor beamed, almost predatory, then went back to kissing Yuuri’s chest, dextrously unbuttoning the other’s pyjama top, allowing himself access to Yuuri’s nipples. Yuuri shivered deliciously and kissed the top of Victor’s head, deeply inhaling the scent of his shampoo. Throwing his arms over Victor’s shoulders, he pulled them both down onto the futon. Victor returned to kissing his mouth, soft hair falling on Yuuri’s face, caressing his cheeks and forehead. Their pelvises and legs fit perfectly against each other, creating friction that they both welcomed. Their tongues were dancing to the rhythm of their excited heartbeats, moans and whimpers of pleasure were being muffled against each other’s lips.

And then, Victor’s searching, elegant fingers slowly dove under the waistband of Yuuri’s pyjama bottoms.

“No. Wait. Stop.”, Yuuri halted him again, looking flustered.

Victor sat up. Yuuri propped himself up on his elbows.

“What’s wrong?”, Victor whispered gently.

“It’s… weird.”, Yuuri weakly replied.

“What is?”, Victor asked, a hint of playfulness on his tone, “The colour? The shape?”

Yuuri didn’t laugh. He looked down at his belly button, blushing.

“No… I…”

“Are you embarrassed?”

Yuuri didn’t reply.

Victor released a sigh, then took his right hand to Yuuri’s nape, leaning his forehead against the brunette’s. He gently took Yuuri’s right hand in his left and slowly guided it to come rest at his crotch.

“I’m like that, too. It’s not embarrassing. It’s natural.”

He looked back into Yuuri’s eyes. The other boy was fixing Victor’s groin area thoughtfully.

“We should do something about that.”, he whispered, sounding determined and extremely sexy, not taking his eyes off Victor’s lap.

Victor shivered in anticipation and then he was being pushed back down onto the futon, Yuuri moving southwards on his horizontally reclining body.

“W-wha-”

“Don’t look. And be quiet.”, Yuuri warned, then smiled cutely up at Victor and dropped down.

Yuuri gently pushed Victor’s waistband down and soon cold air was touching hot, flushed skin. Victor gasped and threw one shaky arm over his eyes to stop himself from disobeying Yuuri’s instructions of not looking at him. There was wet warmness there now, hesitant at first, but bolder with each touch. Victor’s hips wanted to rock against it, but he valiantly stayed as still as he could. He wouldn’t hurt Yuuri or make it difficult for him. Not that Yuuri seemed to be having any difficulty at all. It felt so good…

Victor muffled a moan against his fist. He wanted to watch, he wanted to watch so badly… He had to… And then, despite himself, he did.

He stole a glimpse through a small opening between his arm and the cane of his nose. Yuuri was blushing hard, blue rimmed glasses foggy and slightly askew, eyes closed in bliss, like he was savouring the most delicious katsudon… Victor couldn’t take it anymore, he was about to…

“Shi-”, Victor said, suddenly sitting up and pushing Yuuri away from where he wanted him most at that time. But it was already too late.

Face and neck coated by Victor’s ejaculate, Yuuri looked at him in shock for one second, then bent his head and started shaking in silence.

_Is he… crying?_

Jumping from mortification to worry, Victor didn’t know what to do. He hesitantly started raising his hands to try and comfort Yuuri, but not really knowing how.

“Yuuri, I’m so…”

That was when the brunette could no longer stifle the sound of his… giggles.

Yes, looking back up at Victor, Yuuri was now grabbing at Victor’s knees for support and gasping for air between his badly muffled… laugher. Yuuri was laughing.

Vaguely wondering if he should feel humiliated, Victor could do only one thing now that he was looking at Yuuri’s happy, gunk-covered, cutely blushing face… and that was to laugh as well.

For a few seconds, they both leaned onto each other for support and convulsed with badly muffled laugher.

They were interrupted by a thumping noise.

“… Shhh! ‘Wanna shweep…!”, came Phichit’s muffled, distant, groggy complaint from the room across from Victor’s.

They looked at each other wide-eyed for a few seconds, frozen in shock. But no more sounds came from Phichit’s room.

“I… should go clean up.”, Yuuri whispered, quietly raising to his feet and leaving the room.

Right when Victor was starting to wonder if Yuuri wasn’t coming back from the bathroom, the sliding door quietly opened to let him back inside.

Victor immediately lifted the covers and Yuuri laid down beside him with no hesitation. He put his glasses away, turned on his side and sighed happily. Victor hugged him from behind, leaving a loving, reverent kiss on Yuuri’s nape. Yuuri gently took one of Victor’s hands in his and kissed it, warm sleepy body relaxing against his lover’s.

“Was it okay?”, Victor quietly asked.

“Very.”, Yuuri sleepily praised, kissing his hand again.

“I wasn’t able to reciprocate, though. And it was… messy.”

“You will next time. And I don’t mind.”, Yuuri whispered, breathing slowly. Victor could literally feel him falling asleep in his arms.

He smiled against Yuuri’s hair.

 _Yes. Next time_.

* * *

 

“I passed.”

“I passed!”

Victor and Yuuri announced at the same time, as soon as they were within earing distance of each other. They were meeting that morning to walk to school together, like they did on most days now.

There was a split-second pause during which they smiled stupidingly at one another. And then Victor just threw himself at Yuuri’s neck.

“Congratulations!”, he enthusiastically said.

“Thank you. You too.”, Yuuri replied, hugging Victor back, then releasing him. They smiled, ecstatic, full-teethed beam mirrored on their faces.

“Oh. Phichit-kun called me yesterday. He passed the exam, too.”, Yuuri informed.

“That’s great!”, Victor joyfully replied, catching Yuuri’s hand and squeezing it affectionately. Yuuri squeezed back.

They held hands all the way to school, excitedly planning their rapidly approaching shared future.

* * *

 

“But you will be back for the ceremony, right?”, Yuuri asked into the phone.

“Yes. I wouldn’t miss the graduation ceremony for anything!”, Victor overdramatically assured him on the other side.

Yuuri chortled goodhumoredly.

“Well, then. We should probably end this call, I’m sure you already spent a little fortune with it.”

“It’s okay. What are you doing right now?”

“I’m… I just had a bath and I’m lying on my bed… talking to you?”, Yuuri chuckled.

“Mm… sounds nice!”, Victor said, cheerful, “I’m lying on my hotel bed too.”, a small pause, “What are you wearing?”

“… Pyjamas.”

“Mm… now I’m thinking about that night in Kyoto…”, Victor purred seductively.

“Victor…”, Yuuri started, embarrassed, blushing.

“I will make it up to you.”, Victor solemnly promised.

“Okay.”, Yuuri said, nodding.

The music record label Victor had recently been working with had found him a little job the previous week. The guitarist of a band playing at a festival had a ruptured appendix and they had called Victor to replace her. Problem is, that festival was in Nimes, which is located in the southern province of… France. Hence the international calls of the last three days.

“I miss you…”, Victor softly whispered.

“I miss you, too.”, Yuuri replied, voice shaking a little.

* * *

 

“Giaco-sen! What number am I?”, Kenjirou asked, voice raising over the loud noise of all the third years that where gathered in the corridor for the graduation ceremony.

“Mm, let me see…”, Giacometti-sensei said, perusing the paper sheets in his hands.

The sound of someone running down the corridor made the Music teacher raise his eyes from the names in his list.

“No running…!”

“Am I late?”, asked a slightly winded Victor Nikiforov, coming to a stop in front of the teacher.

“No. You’re right on time.”, drawled a bored-looking Yuri Plisetsky beside him.

Victor walked up to the short blonde boy and hugged his head with one arm.

“Did you miss me, Yurochka?”

“Get off me, you retard!”, Yuri growled, immediately aiming to kick at Victor’s crotch. He dodged it.

“Get in line, Nikiforov.”, Giacometti-sensei interrupted.

In that moment, Victor’s searching eyes finally connected with Yuuri’s. He winked at him.

“I need to go to the bathroom.”, he declared, immediately turning on his heels and walking away.

“Wha…? Make it fast.”, the teacher replied weakly after him.

“Ah, I need to go, too…”, Yuuri awkwardly said, walking after Victor without waiting for a reply.

Giacometti-sensei sighed, exasperated, then shook his head and smirked.

“I want to go too!”, Georgi tried.

“Me too!”, Leo said.

“Nobody else gets to go!”, Giacometti-sensei spoke over the small tumult.

Yuri tsked.

* * *

 

As he was going up the stairs in the direction of the bathroom, Yuuri was intercepted by two arms that held him in a warm, familiar embrace. He immediately hugged back, fitting his face against the side of Victor’s neck, inhaling the scent he had missed so much for the past week.

“I’m back.”, Victor hummed against his ear.

“Welcome home.”, Yuuri replied with a happy sigh.

Victor leaned away slightly so their lips could meet. And, so, their world righted itself. They kissed affectionately for a few minutes.

“Victor… the… the ceremony is…”, Yuuri said between kisses.

“Hey, do you want to say goodbye to our old classroom?”, Victor murmured seductively against Yuuri’s lips.

“But the graduation ceremony…”

“It’s fine. They won’t notice if two people are not there.”, Victor assured him, winking mischievously.

And that’s how they ended up kissing on the table top of Yuuri’s old school desk.

 _A year and a half ago, right here, I fell in love._ , Victor thought, remembering mesmerizing Katsuki Yuuri hesitantly singing  _Stammi vicino, non te ne andare_  while sitting on top of that very same desk. Remembering how his ears happily captured that beautiful voice, how his eyes couldn’t look away, how his heart decided that very moment that it belonged to the beautiful boy sitting in front of him. The boy who he was now passionately kissing and who was kissing him back, the boy he wanted to spend the rest of his days with, the boy he would love for the rest of his life.

Yuuri. Yuuri. Yuuri.

“Yuuri…”, Victor urgently moaned against his lover’s neck, fingers gently pulling at the other’s tie knot.

“… Yes.”, Yuuri whispered, understanding.

Still fully clad in their school uniform, loosened ties, white shirts unbuttoned, the two boys kept kissing.

Victor was now leaving a trail of licks and kisses from Yuuri’s neck, down his chest, his belly button, the bulge concealed by his trousers…

“Switch. I want to make it up to you.”, Victor sensually requested, gently guiding Yuuri into a standing position and rotating them both so that he was now the one leaning against the table top in front of Yuuri. Quickly, he lowered his trousers and briefs to his knees, devouringly kissed Yuuri one more time and passed Yuuri a small plastic container.

“What?”, Yuuri whispered confused while Victor pulled him flush against his chest, between his legs, then rose his hand so that he could read the label on the tube Victor had just given him, “Lubri…? Oh.”

“Mm-mm.”, Victor agreed, his mouth busy with one of Yuuri’s nipples.

“Ahhh…”, Yuuri moaned rutting once against Victor, then leaning a little away from him, so that he could look straight into the other’s huge pupiled blue eyes, “Is that what you want?”

“Yes, yes, yes…”, Victor assured him, pulling him back against his body, “Please…”, he nearly whined.

“Okay.”

As soon as he got this confirmation, Victor leant backwards on the table, sensually opening his legs wider for Yuuri.

Yuuri was gentle and careful, touching Victor lovingly, reverently even. Soon, Victor was turning belly down on the wood and begging.

Their pleasure moans, sighs, gasps and groans reached only the books on the shelves, the blackboard, the chairs, the chalk, the closed sliding door… This room would keep their secret and their memories forever.

“Ahhh…”, Victor finished a little after Yuuri, spending himself on his lover’s hand, body relaxing onto the wood underneath him.

“I love you.”, Yuuri whispered, then kissed the back of Victor’s neck and carefully lowered them both onto the wooden floor.

They laid there, side by side for a few minutes just catching their breath.

“That was the first time you ever said that to me. That you love me.”, Victor whispered.

Yuuri turned his head to look at him, surprised. Victor was laying on his side, half-lidded eyes affectionately smiling at him.

“Was it?”, Yuuri asked, equal parts incredulous and guilty.

“Yes. Say it again.”

“I love you.”, Yuuri said with a smile, turning to lay on his side too, left hand coming to lovingly wipe at the happy tears that Victor could no longer hold, “Now and forever.”

Victor chuckled through his happy sobs, but Yuuri wasn’t finished yet.

“When I become a doctor, marry me.”, he said seriously.

Victor’s eyes went wide, big smile gracing his beautiful features.

“Yes!”, he enthusiastically exclaimed, eagerly pulling Yuuri into a hug and initiating a relentless tickle attack.

Happy laugher filled the classroom.

* * *

 

“Nikiforov! Katsuki!”, Giacometti-sensei called as soon as they joined the loud crowd of leaving graduates after their long trip to the bathroom – they  _did_  end up going to the bathroom afterwards – “What were you two thinking??”, Victor and Yuuri stopped and turned to look at the approaching teacher, previously connected hands falling apart, “This was the final event of your high school life, your graduation ceremony, and where were you…?”

Now that Giacometti-sensei was close enough to them, he could easily recognize the blush that graced the faces of the two boys, the badly concealed state of disarray of their hair and uniform, their puffy red lips…

A little awkwardly, almost mechanically, the teacher pushed the two graduation certificate tubes he was holding against both boys’ chests.

“Thank you, Giaco-sen!”, Victor cheerfully exclaimed, “And thank you for everything you taught me, for school and for life!”

Standing by his side, Yuuri made an awkward small bow.

“Also, we decided to get married!”, Victor happily informed the Music teacher.

Yuuri went tomato-red, but made another small agreeing bow.

Giacometti-sensei blinked once, shocked. Then shook his head and smiled.

“Congratulations.”

He looked sincerely happy for them, almost proud.

“T-thank you, sir!”, Yuuri awkwardly spluttered, surprised.

“Thank you! Well, then, best regards for you…”, Victor said with a flourish, clearly trying to escape.

“Wait a moment! You must seal it with a kiss!”, Giacometti-sensei declared, playful.

Victor chuckled. Yuuri looked around embarrassed. But they only hesitated for a second before complying with a cute little chaste kiss.

Giacometti-sensei clapped his hands in cheer. All the other students paid them no mind whatsoever.

And that’s how they left, one arm hugging each other’s waist, the other holding their respective graduation certificate tubes.

 _Wearing the same uniform and the same shoes, about the same height. The season when we first met, when you first became mine, a time when we were classmates_.

 

**[THE END]**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this epilogue because this is where I think the Doukyuusei movie should’ve ended.  
> And… it looks like it’s time to say goodbye. Thank you for sticking up with this story this far!   
> To me, this was a very nice journey. I hope you enjoyed it too. If you did, please leave kudos and maybe comment bellow.  
> I hope to see you around in my other works. (^_~)


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